Abstract

RIERA, Laura Marisa C et al. Evaluación de de la eficacia de los procesos de esterilización de consultorios odontológicos del distrito VI de la provincia de buenos aires, argentina 2006 - 2007, mediante la utilización de indicadores biológicos. Acta odontol. venez [online]. 2009, vol.47, n.2, pp.320-326. ISSN 0001-6365.

In a dental office, several infectious sources, such as saliva, blood, contaminated dental instruments, may be vehicles for microorganisms to reach patients and dental proffesionals. In this work the efficacy of the sterilization process performed at dental offices belonging to the VI district of Buenos Aires Province from Argentina was evaluated through the use of Biological Indicators. Two hundred and eigthy three dentists participated of the study performing a total of 320 dry heat sterilization process and 19 wet heat ones. It was observed that the 35 % (112/320) of the dry heat sterilization process controlled didn't meet the requirements, 63 of which repeated the control and 55 (87%) solved the problem through the adoption of several corrective actions. In relation to wet heat sterilization, the 32 % (6/19) of the process didn't meet the requirements, 3 out of 6 positives overcame the problem after the implementation of corrective actions. These results show the importance for the whole community of a control program implementation in order to guarantee the sterility of the instruments used in the dental practice.

Keywords : sterilization; biological indicators; dental practice; quality control.