Verification and utilization of sterilizing equipment by dentists in San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Objective. To assess the utilization of sterilizing equipment used by denti sts, and verification of sterilization using biological indicators. Materia l and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999-2000, among 13 0 (65%) dentists having sterilizing equipment, at Facultad de Estomatologia , Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi and Colegio Dental Potosino. Biol ogical indicators for sterilization containing Bacillus subtilis and Bacill us stearothermophilus were used. Results. Thirty autoclaves and 100 dry-hea t sterilizers were evaluated: 23 (17.7%) of them showed bacterial growth.Tw enty-one (16.1%) dentists already were using biological indicators to verif y their sterilizing equipment. Both sterilization methods were found to all ow bacterial growth with similar frequencies (p=>0.66). Conclusions. Few de ntists verify the quality of sterilization process through biological indic ators; bacterial growth and failure of sterilization were evidenced. The En glish version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index .html.