Influence of endodontic instrument-holder on sterilization efficacy. A pilot in-vitro study.

Abstract

Influence of endodontic instrument-holder on sterilization efficacy. A pilot in-vitro study.Carrizo A. Influence of endodontic instrument-holder on sterilization efficacy. A pilot in-vitro study. J Oral Res 2013; 2(2): 68-71.Abstract: Infection control is crucial in dentistry and various methods have been designed to assure its efficacy. However, little information exists regarding the influence it could have the instrument-holder of endodontic files. The aim of this research was to determine the influence of three instruments-holders on sterilization efficacy of endodontic files. Methods: A pilot in-vitro study. 60 endodontic files were contaminated by biomechanical preparation of extracted molars with periapical abscess, then processed according to the standard washing method. The endodontic files were divided into 3 groups (n = 20) and assigned to 3 instrument-holders: Metallic box (MB), surgical gauze (SG) and synthetic sponge (SS). Then, the files were packaged and sterilized by autoclaving (134°C/45min). Microbiological culture was performed in thioglycolate solution for each endodontic file (37ºC/5days). Results: The overall sterilization efficacy was 91.7%, 80% for MB, 100% for SS, and 95% for SG, with no statistically significant differences (p = 0.06) between the groups. Conclusions: The lack of differences in the efficacy of sterilization may be due to the reduced sample; therefore, a full-size study is necessary to confirm this outcomes. The results of this study discourage the use of the MB as instrumentholder until a full-size study can confirm this data.