DISINFECTION OF CONVENTIONAL

IMPRESSIONS

Dental impressions are exposed to blood, saliva, or both; therefore, dental

offices and commercial laboratories need to follow coordinated protocols

to eliminate the risks of cross-contamination. To maximize effectiveness,

disinfection should take place immediately on removal from the mouth.

Over the past years, numerous reports have studied the effect of

disinfection procedures on the surface properties and dimensional

stability of dental impression materials. These studies indicate that

disinfection procedures do not have a clinically significant effect on

impression quality and/or accuracy.

Disinfection protocols consist of 2 steps. The first step includes rinsing

the impression with tap water immediately after removal from the

patient’s mouth. This process significantly reduces the number of blood-

borne pathogens that can be transferred to the stone casts. The second

step includes spraying the impression with an appropriate disinfecting

agent or immersing it in a chemical solution for a specified amount of

time. Care should be taken when disinfecting water-based materials or

polyethers, because extended immersion times (>30 minutes) can have a

negative impact on impression quality.