So what we’re looking at is sanitize vs sterilize.
A sanitize cycle typically gets the temperature of the water up to about 65-75°C and holds it there for at least 1.5 hours. This kills the vast majority of pathogenic microbes as human pathogens typically live at around human body temperature. You’ll see ads on how this cycle kills 99.999% of microbes, but the fine print typically states something along the lines of “foodborne microbes” or “pathogenic microbes”. Anything outside of that may survive, especially if it’s a species that forms endospores or a toilet brush.
Sterilizing by definition kills anything living and deactivates viruses. You won’t get sterilization by heat in any dishwasher, which is why laboratories and medical facilities sterilize with an autoclave. An autoclave utilizes pressure to raise the water temperature up to around 120-135°C without it boiling. This still won’t sterilize everything, particularly the aforementioned endospore forming bacteria, but it’s functionally sterilized for most purposes. For true sterilization, certain autoclaves can reach much higher temperatures and pressures, in excess of 600°C and 0.5 GPa, respectively, which obliterates fairly well everything, but those are extremely uncommon and for niche uses as temperatures that high may just melt your glassware.
So what we’re looking at is sanitize vs sterilize.
A sanitize cycle typically gets the temperature of the water up to about 65-75°C and holds it there for at least 1.5 hours. This kills the vast majority of pathogenic microbes as human pathogens typically live at around human body temperature. You’ll see ads on how this cycle kills 99.999% of microbes, but the fine print typically states something along the lines of “foodborne microbes” or “pathogenic microbes”. Anything outside of that may survive, especially if it’s a species that forms endospores or a toilet brush.
Sterilizing by definition kills anything living and deactivates viruses. You won’t get sterilization by heat in any dishwasher, which is why laboratories and medical facilities sterilize with an autoclave. An autoclave utilizes pressure to raise the water temperature up to around 120-135°C without it boiling. This still won’t sterilize everything, particularly the aforementioned endospore forming bacteria, but it’s functionally sterilized for most purposes. For true sterilization, certain autoclaves can reach much higher temperatures and pressures, in excess of 600°C and 0.5 GPa, respectively, which obliterates fairly well everything, but those are extremely uncommon and for niche uses as temperatures that high may just melt your glassware.