It's possible that microorganisms found in dental flora could pass to laboratory personnel, dentists and the other patients via of impressions and plaster models. For this reason, to eliminate the cross infection risk in dental clinics, disinfection and sterilization of dental materials and the impressions send to the laboratory, gain importance. However, disinfection methods shouldn't cause any failure on impressions dimensional stability and prosthetic restorations success. Therefore in this research, the effect of disinfection methods on dimensional stability of the impressions made for prosthetic restorations was aimed to investigate.
Three different disinfection methods and six different disinfectant agents were used in this research. All impressions were duplicated from one metal main model, which represents dental arch. Gypsum plaster was poured 15 minutes later to the irreversible hydrocolloid (alginate) impressions. To determine the dimensional variation, totally nine different measurements were made in all three dimensions on gypsum plaster models. Measurement values were compared with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U Test statistical analyses.
It was established that all disinfection methods affected the dimensional stability of the impressions when compared with the control group. Adding disinfectant agent to alginates' mixing water method was found less effective on the dimensional stability then leaving disinfectant solution and disinfectant spray method.
Keywords: Alginate, Disinfection, Dimensional Stability
