Viabilidade da reutilização de bandas ortodônticas após experimentação na boca: controlo de infeção cruzada

Abstract

Objectives Evaluation of the effectiveness of two orthodontic bands sterilization protocols.

Methods 40 orthodontic bands were used to accomplish the study, 5 of them were not used on individuals, being used as negative control. The other 35 bands were tested around the first upper molars of 10 individuals. Then, they were removed from the mouth and 5 were separated for positive control. The remaining 30 bands were immersed in an ultrasonic bath with Elusept® disinfectant for 15 minutes. Afterwards, the 30 bands were divided into 3 groups. The first one worked as disinfection control, the second and the third ones were subjected to an additional sterilization with dry heat (210 ° C, 30 min) and steam (121 ° C, 33 min) respectively. Finally, each band was placed in a phosphate buffer solution to remove adherent microorganisms and the resulting suspension was inoculated in a nutrient agar. The number of colony-forming units (CFU) was observed in each petri dish, 4 days after incubation at 37 °C.

Results It was quantified a high level of contamination on the petri dishes that contained positive controls. The remaining petri dishes, where the samples were subjected to disinfection and/or sterilization, showed no signs of contamination.

Conclusion According to methodology and based on the study of bacterial life forms, the risk of cross infection is small when reusing orthodontic bands after any of the sterilization tested protocols.