Disinfection and communication practices: A survey of US dental laboratories

Background, The need to disinfect impressions is crucial to prevent the tra nsmission of infectious diseases. The authors report the results of a surve y of U.S. dental laboratory directors. The survey was designed to determine how well dental laboratory personnel are communicating with dentists regar ding the disinfection of impressions, and, in turn, what laboratory technic ians are doing to protect themselves against microbial cross-contamination. Methods. Four hundred dental laboratory directors were selected in a blinde d and random manner. To create a geographically representative sample, an e qual number of laboratory directors from the East, Midwest and West were in terviewed. A survey consisting of 16 open-ended questions was conducted by trained interviewers via 10- to 15-minute telephone interviews. All dental laboratory directors stated that they were thoroughly familiar with their l aboratory's disinfection protocol. Results. The survey documented that the majority of impressions were made o f polyvinyl (57 percent) or polyether (27 percent) materials. Only 44 perce nt of the respondents stated that they knew if the impressions they receive d had been disinfected. Twenty-three percent of the laboratory directors di d not know the method of disinfection used, and 47 percent did not know the length of time involved. Forty-five percent of the respondents reported th at they receive inadequate instruction in regard to disinfection techniques . No one class of impression materials was found to be more problematic tha n others by the laboratory directors. Conclusions, The results indicate a significant and problematic lack of com munication between these team members. The responses also suggested that la boratory-perceived problems with impressions were not linked to any particu lar type of material, but more to the disinfection technique used. Practice Implications. Lack of communication between dentists, staff member s and dental laboratory personnel, along with poor training of laboratory p ersonnel in disinfection techniques, may have a direct effect on the prosth etic results achieved in dental practices.