Ultrasonic cleaning effectively cleans customized abutment surfaces: Study
According to recent research, it has been found that the ultrasonic cleaning method is conveniently applicable in the dental clinic for eliminating contamination of the customized abutment surface, as published in the BMC Oral Health Journal.
The presence of contaminants in the implant-abutment interface initiates an inflammatory response, which may damage tissue and activate osteoclasts, thus subsequently resulting in bone resorption and the resetting of biologic width. Due to a recent demand for aesthetic dental implants, customized abutments usage has been significantly increased. Despite this, the importance of abutment surface treatments has been generally overlooked in applying to patients. There is insufficient information regarding manufacturers and techniques for surface treatment and sterilization. A lot of pollutions are generated on the customized abutment surface following milling procedure.
Hence, Sunjai Kim and colleagues from the Department of Prosthodontics, Gangnam Severance Dental Hospital, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Korea conducted this study to evaluate the surface topography and cleanliness of customized abutments after cleaning procedures, which are simply applicable in the dental clinic.
Thirty computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing internal connection type titanium abutments were produced, milled, and randomly divided into 3 groups: steam cleaning (control group), chlorhexidine (CHX) scrubbing (test group 1), and ultrasonic cleaning with CHX solution, acetone, and ethyl alcohol (test group 2). Each group was evaluated using microscopic and microbial analysis.
The following results were shown-
a. Foreign bodies were observed on the abutment surfaces in control group and test group 1, but not in test group 2.
b. Bacteria were observed on 40% of the agar plates following steam cleaning; most of the colonies consisted of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus warneri.
c. Colony growth was absent following test group 1 and 2.
Therefore, the authors concluded that "for customized abutments, cleaning with steam is ineffective. CHX scrubbing effectively eliminates only bacteria. Ultrasonic cleaning with CHX solution, acetone, and ethyl alcohol successfully removes both foreign bodies and bacteria. Thus, the ultrasonic cleaning method is conveniently applicable in the dental clinic for eliminating contamination of the customized abutment surface."
