Within the literature however there is variation in the method of application of such agents (spraying or immersion). 8 Clearly these should be applied as recommended by the manufacturer of the product. To achieve impression disinfection it is generally accepted that different chemical agents may be used. 2 It is also apparent that in some cases the dentists prescribing the restorations have little knowledge of the practices used by the dental laboratory for, in the study of Pang and Millar, 7 when asked 'Does your laboratory technician disinfect working impressions before pouring?' most respondents (72%) were unsure. Such doubt has also been noted by others 6 and the practice of repeat disinfection risks the surface detail and accuracy of the impression. 5 found a lack of confidence among dental technicians that impressions were disinfected resulting in repeat disinfection of some impressions. 4 In light of these findings it is perhaps not surprising that Kugel et al. Previous investigations of impression disinfection, against this ideal, 3, 4 within the setting of general dental practice, have demonstrated that cross infection control was not routine, with almost 25% of impressions received by the laboratory being visibly contaminated with blood 3 and inappropriately disinfected in 43% of cases. This may have detrimental consequences for its dimensions. In addition, they point out that uncertainty of disinfection risks repeated disinfection of an impression in the dental laboratory. It is good practice to agree the cleaning and disinfection process with the laboratory and label the device to indicate disinfected status'. 2 This clearly states that 'the responsibility for ensuring impressions have been cleaned and disinfected before dispatch to the laboratory lies solely with the dentist. Current guidance on the decontamination and disinfection of dental impressions is clearly set out in the Advice Sheet A12 produced by that organisation. The British Dental Association has for some years recommended the decontamination and disinfection of dental impressions 1 before sending them to the dental laboratory. Conclusions Compliance with good practice is less than ideal and education in impression disinfection for both dentists and dental technicians is required to address this. 64.7% were confident that the impressions received by them had been disinfected by the dentists. 15% had encountered blood-filled voids upon trimming back the peripheries of impressions. 95% of them had received blood-contaminated impressions. Irrespective of the disinfection status of the received impressions, 50% of the responding dental technicians disinfected all impressions. 24.7% of dentists did not inform the laboratory of disinfection. 37.2% rinsed the impressions with water, and 2.6% always brushed debris away, before disinfection. A wide range of solutions, at different dilutions of the same product, was used by the dentists to disinfect dental impressions. Results Questionnaire return rates of 42.1% and 31.2% were recorded for dentists and dental technicians respectively. Method Dentist (n = 200) and dental technician (n = 200) potential participants, selected at random from the registers held by the General Dental Council, were invited to complete an anonymous postal questionnaire that sought to establish current practices and perceived effectiveness of impression disinfection. Objective To ascertain, from the perspectives of dentists and dental technicians, current impression decontamination and disinfection practices with, in the case of the technicians, an estimate of the relative prevalence of contaminated voids within apparently disinfected impressions. Uncertainty of impression disinfection risks both the health of the receiving dental technician and potential repeat disinfection of an already disinfected impression with detrimental consequences for its dimensions. Introduction The responsibility of ensuring impressions have been cleaned and disinfected before dispatch to the dental laboratory lies solely with the dentist.
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