The influence of file size, cleaning, and time on effectiveness of bead sterilizers.
A controlled study was conducted to determine the influence on disinfection of cleaning endodontic files with either dry gauze or alcohol-saturated gauze prior to placement of the files into a hot bead sterilizer. File size and length of time in the hot bead sterilizer were also investigated. Findings indicated that an alcohol wipe was more effective than a dry wipe except in the largest file tested. Using an alcohol wipe and 3 seconds in a hot bead sterilizer for No. 10 files or 5 seconds for either a No. 30 or a No. 45 file was equivalent in disinfecting ability to 8 seconds and a dry wipe using the same file sizes.
D003762:Dental Instruments; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013242:Sterilization / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors