Research Article Microbiological Study of Cast Posts before Cementation Maricela Vallejo-Labrada and Juan Carlos Ojeda-Garces Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, San Juan de Pasto, Nari˜ no, Colombia Correspondence should be addressed to Maricela Vallejo-Labrada; maricela.vallejo@campusucc.edu.co Received 22 December 2016; Accepted 26 January 2017; Published 20 February 2017 Academic Editor: Louis M. Lin Copyright © 2017 Maricela Vallejo-Labrada and Juan Carlos Ojeda-Garces. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Tis study identifes the most common microorganisms present in type III gold cast posts related to pulpal disease and evaluates the sterilization/disinfection method before cementation in the root canal. Forty-fve type III gold cast posts were aseptically collected in sterile sealed plastic bags and taken to the microbiology laboratory to carry out the study: ffeen cast posts had no treatment, ffeen were disinfected (immersion in 70% alcohol during 15 minutes), and ffeen were autoclaved at 121 ∘ C for 15 minutes by using saturated steam under 15 psi pressure. By using a two-proportion -test, the diference was statistically signifcant ( > 0.05) and demonstrates that, in spite of the aseptic pattern used in the cast post collection and laboratory procedures, some cast posts arrive contaminated at the consulting ofce. Te disinfection process worked out in a high percentage and demonstrated that the sterilization by autoclaving eliminated completely the pathogenic microbiota without afecting the cast post shape and integrity that could compromise their fnal ftting. 1. Introduction It is generally accepted that the success of the endodontic treatment correlates positively with the quality of the root canal flling. It is expected that the properly plugged root canals should provide a three-dimension seal against the entry of bacteria [1]. Te crown microleakage is an important factor to bear in mind as a triggering factor of the endodontic treatment failure [2]. For years there has been a lot of emphasis on the quality of the fnal restoration, for which the intraradicular posts are commonly used to achieve the sealing and provide proper crown support [3]. It has been demonstrated that the endodontically treated teeth exposed to the oral cavity are contaminated invariably by the fuids, bacteria, and its by-products. Te long-term contamination may lead to the endodontic treatment failure and put the restorative treatment at risk [4–8]. Te maintenance of aseptic conditions during the root canal treatment avoids the seepage of bacteria and fuids. However, the sequence of the later root canal preparation procedures, techniques, and instruments used for removal of root canal flling materials [9], the length of the remaining materials, and time of removal of root flling [10], taking of a post space impression, ftting the intraradicular post in the root canal space and post cementation, may allow the unintended contact of the remaining gutta-percha with saliva and bacteria [3, 11–13]. Te length of the intraradicular post and the residual flling are also important. Te cast post must descend at least two-third of the length of the root in order to provide sufcient retention. If it is not clinically feasible, the post should equal the crown length [14]. Some authors argue that a minimum of 4 mm of flling material must remain in the root canal to avoid bacteria leakage [15, 16]. In other studies, regarding the minimum amount of the remaining flling material [17, 18] it is widely accepted that 5 mm of root canal flling should be lef in the apical area in order to avoid disruption of the apical seal in the post space preparation. It should be considered if it is better to use a permanent high quality restoration immediately afer an endodontic treatment or a provisional one that has a greater leakage possibility. Te permanence of the provisional cement afer the endodontic treatment and before the fnal cementing, the exposure of the gutta-percha in the flled root canal to mouth liquids, even for brief periods, may lead to treatment repeti- tion before placing the defnitive dental restoration. Te saliva Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Dentistry Volume 2017, Article ID 1090534, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/1090534