[Problems in disinfection of dental impression materials]

In view of the risk of infection of the dentist and his staff in the dental surgery and dental laboratory and also of the patient with regard to hepatitis B and potentially also of AIDS, interruption of possible chains of infection by means of specific disinfection measures is to be demanded. Whereas appropriate hygiene concepts exist for disinfection of instruments, surfaces of equipment and furniture with regard to selection and application of various methods which may be considered, there are still extensive deficits for the domain of impression materials and their possible decontamination. In this regard, dentists frequently lack information with an adequate scientific basis that is understandable and oriented to practical requirements. Owing to the diversity of materials and their different behavior (cf. Tab. 1), appropriate recommendations can only be made on the basis of extensive studies. We assume that a practically relevant procedure must meet the following requirements: 1) sufficiently high rates of bacterial reduction in accordance with the guidelines of the DGHM, 2) lack of alterations in the dimensions or surfaces of the materials, 3) universal applicability, 4) practicability within a time period which is acceptable for smooth operation of the practice, 5) can be employed without problems for the staff. The object of the report are bacteriological results and materials testing data for the application of various methods of disinfection to selected impression materials. To summarize, it can be stated with regard to the bacteriological results that disinfection of impression materials is possible with fulfillment of the criteria specified above, but that there is a pronounced dependence of the results on the product formulation of the disinfectant and also of the impression material (cf. Fig. 4 and 5). Investigations of the material-related effects of the disinfection measures showed that extrapolation of the findings from one group of materials to another is also not possible in this connection, and that moreover the materials used to produce the model must also be included besides the impression materials used (cf. Fig. 9). Accordingly, statements on the suitability of a disinfection procedure are present admissible at most for the respective combination of materials tested, which makes practical introduction problematical.