Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development
  • Year: 2019
  • Volume: 10
  • Issue: 12

Disinfection Techniques for Dental Impressions: A Review Article

1Professor & Head of Department Department of Prosthodontics, Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, BIHER, Chennai

2First Year, Post-Graduate, Department of Prosthodontics, Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, BIHER, Chennai

*Corresponding Author: Dr. Sanjna Nayar, MDS, Professor & Head of Department, Department of Prosthodontics, Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, BIHER, Chennai, e-mail: nayarsanjna@gmail.com

Online published on 31 March, 2020.

Abstract

Dental impressions are infected with various types of micro-organisms e.g. Hepatitis B, C, HIV, Mycobacterium, Herpes simplex, Ebola etc. In order to prevent their spread through dental impression it is important to sterilize the impression just after removal from patient's mouth. Numerous method to disinfect impressions have been described in literature having their own advantages, disadvantages and effects on impression material. To enhance the knowledge of a dental health care workers about impression disinfection, a structured literature review of the current disinfection techniques has been carried out.

One electronic database (PubMed) was searched through in November 2019. The term “dental impression disinfection” was chosen. The titles and abstract s were screened and the studies which performed “disinfection techniques in dentistry” were selected.

Cross infection control is very important aspect of clinician and patient safety. It is the responsibility of the dentist to make appropriate choice of disinfection method for different impression materials.

Keywords

Disinfectants, disinfection techniques, dental impressions, sterilization, cross-infection