Comparison of the efficiency of cleaning and disinfection protocols for hand endodontic instruments

Abstract

Background/Aim. There is no standard protocol for cleaning and desinfection of used endodontic instruments before their sterilization and reuse. The aim of this study wss to check the efficiency of the different methods of removing biological debris from different type of used hand stainless steel endodontic instruments. Methods. A total of 120 instruments (forty Kerr-Reamers, Kerr-Files and Hedstr?m-Files) (Shenzhen Denco Medical Co., Ltd. Guangdong, China) ISO 25 were analyzed. The instruments used for root canal treatment on extracted teeth were divided into 4 groups based on different decontamination protocols. The evaluation of the efficiency of the cleaning methods was based on the evaluation of the amount of stained organic residues (Van Gieson staining). Samples were analyzed by stereomicroscopy (X40). Statistical analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney and ANOVAOneWay/Bonfferoni test at a significance level of 5% (? = 0.05). Results. Residual biological debris was observed on 93.33% of all the samples taken. The thermal disinfectant cleaning method showed the lowest contamination values for all types of instruments. The method of mechanical cleaning showed the mean value of Maximum Biologic Contamination (MBC) of the Kerr-Reamers (58.54 %) and Kerr-Files (56.25%) and for Hedstr?m-Files the highest MBC was shown by the ultrasonic method contamination (50.21 %). Conclusion. The use of a thermal disinfectant was the most efficient cleaning method for all three types of hand endodontic instruments.