An Overview of Dental Impression Disinfection Techniques- A Literature Review INTRODUCTION he importance of cross-infection control cannot be overemphasized. Disinfection and sterilization methods are used to achieve disinfection and sterility of the medical and surgical instruments. In order to avoid the spread of pathogens from patients to patient, patient to health care personnel and health care personnel to patient, it is the duty of the health care policies makers to allocate the appropriate methods of cleaning, disinfection and sterilization for various surfaces and instruments. 1 Cleaning is the removal of all foreign material (e.g. blood, saliva, debris) from objects while decontamination is the removal of pathogenic micro-organisms from objects. Disinfection is the process that eliminates many to all pathogenic microorganisms on inanimate objects except bacterial endospores. While sterilization is the complete elimination of all micro-organisms including spores. 2 Disinfection can be divided into three categories according to their efficacy. High level disinfection involves bacterial spore inactivity along with other microbial forms. Intermediate level disinfection involves destruction of micro- organisms like tubercle bacilli but not able to kill spore. Low level disinfection possesses narrow antimicrobial activity. (Table 1). 3,4,5 Dental impressions are categorized under semi-critical objects in dental practice and require high level disinfection or sterilization. 6 Sterilization in an autoclave will compromise the dimensional accuracy of the impression hence it is not feasible. 7 Until 1991, the recommended procedure for disinfection of impression was rinsing under running water with which only 40% of bacteria, viruses and fungi were removed and potential for transmission of micro- organisms remains there. 3,8,9 In recent times, a pre wash of the impression with running water is advocated first to cast off all particles, blood and saliva prior to active disinfection procedure. 10 Disinfection of dental impression should be a routine procedure in the dental office and dental laboratory. By knowing all the methods and techniques, any dental personnel can make a better choice and get best results for impression disinfection. However, most of the dental professionals in private clinics, hospitals, dental schools and prosthetic laboratories are not following the required protocols for impression disinfection. 11,12 Keeping in view the above findings, it is of utmost importance to raise the level of awareness in dental professionals involved in any process of handling, transportation, processing and storage of the dental impressions. Different techniques of impression disinfection and other methods of cross-infection control must be a part of undergraduate curriculum of dental universities and dental technician schools. The aim of this literature review is to generate an update on the various techniques of impression disinfection along with their mechanism of action and simple guidelines for their usage. 1. Resident, FCPS Department of Prosthodontics, and Punjab DentalHospital/ de’Montmorency College of dentistry. 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Punjab Dental Hospital /de’Montmorency College of dentistry. Corresponding author: “Dr. Muhammad Asif Mushtaq” < dr.asif100@yahoo.com > 207 REVIEW ARTICLE T JPDA Vol. 27 No. 04 Oct-Dec 2018 Muhammad Asif Mushtaq 1 BDS Muhammad Waseem Ullah Khan 2 BDS, FCPS Dental impressions can act as vehicle for various types of micro-organisms E.g. Hepatitis B, C, HIV, Mycobacterium, Herpes simplex, Ebola, MERS-CoV etc. The most effective way to prevent their spread through dental impression is to make the impression sterile just after coming out of mouth. Various methods of impression disinfection have been described in literature having their own advantages, disadvantages and effects on impression material. In order to enhance the knowledge and improve the behavior of dental health care workers about impression disinfection, a structured literature review of the current disinfection techniques has been carried out. It will also provide knowledge about mechanism of action, concentration of usage along with commercial preparations available of different disinfectants. HOW TO CITE: Mushtaq MA, Khan MWU . An overview of dental impression disinfection techniques- a literature review. J Pak Dent Assoc 2018;27(4):207-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25301/JPDA.274.207 Received: 27 July 2018, Accepted: 02 August 2018