If you run a clinic, dental office, gym, spa, or any space where surfaces need real disinfection — not just a cosmetic wipe-down — two names come up constantly: Oxivir and CaviWipes. Both are professional-grade, both are widely used in Canadian healthcare, and they are not interchangeable. Here's how to choose.

The one number that matters most: contact time

Every disinfectant has a required contact time — how long the surface must stay visibly wet for the product to actually kill what it claims to kill. This is where most workplaces unknowingly fail: they wipe a surface, it dries in 30 seconds, and the disinfection never completed. Shorter contact time isn't a convenience feature; it's the difference between disinfected and merely damp.

Oxivir TB — the one-minute workhorse

Oxivir TB wipes use accelerated hydrogen peroxide (AHP) with a one-minute contact time for most claims. Two things make Oxivir the default in hospitals: speed, and safety profile — AHP breaks down into water and oxygen, requires no rinsing on most surfaces, and is gentle enough that staff don't need to gear up to use it. If you want one canister that covers exam tables, equipment, desks, and high-touch surfaces with minimal training, this is it. We stock the standard 6x7 canister (160 wipes) and an extra-large 11x12 wipe for big surfaces like treatment tables — one XL wipe genuinely covers what three small wipes struggle with. The chemistry also comes as a spray and facility-scale concentrate if you want one product family across the whole building.

CaviWipes — the dental standard

CaviWipes are a quaternary ammonium and alcohol formula that dominates dental operatories. The alcohol content cuts through the specific soils dental work produces, and the wipe itself is durable for scrubbing. Trade-offs: contact times run longer than Oxivir for some organisms (check the label for the claim you care about), the alcohol smell is noticeable, and alcohol formulas can degrade some plastics and acrylics over time. If your practice already validates its protocol around CaviWipes — as most dental offices do — there's no reason to switch. The 160-count canister is the workhorse size.

Head to head

• Speed: Oxivir — one-minute contact time across most claims
• Staff and surface friendliness: Oxivir — no rinse, no fumes, gentler on equipment
• Dental soils and scrubbing: CaviWipes — the alcohol formula and durable wipe earn their operatory reputation
• Protocol continuity: whichever your infection-control documentation already names

Quick decision guide

• Medical clinics, physio, chiro, spas, gyms, offices: Oxivir TB — fast, safe, no-rinse
• Dental operatories: CaviWipes — the established standard your protocol likely already names
• Large surfaces anywhere: Oxivir TB XL 11x12 wipes
• Comparing more options: see the full hospital-grade wipes collection

Two mistakes to stop making

First, using household wipes in a professional setting — consumer products are fine for a lunchroom (we stock Lysol and everyday wipes in bulk for exactly that), but they're not what your infection-control protocol or your insurance assumes. Second, running out — disinfection compliance collapses the day the canister is empty. Wipes are a case purchase, not a canister purchase: case pricing runs meaningfully below single-unit pricing on every wipe we carry, and they don't expire quickly.

All wipes ship fast across Canada from our Ontario warehouse — MDEL license #17341.