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Objective: Dental instruments are often designed for single use; however, some dental clinics resort to reusing instruments, including saliva ejectors. In this study, we aimed to investigate and compare various disinfection and sterilization methods for contaminated disposable salivary ejectors. Methods: Saliva ejectors contaminated with Streptococcus mutans were divided into f ive groups: negative control, positive control, cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization. Surface contamination and microbial culture tests were conducted using the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) test and colony-forming units (CFUs) counting, respectively. One-way ANOVA was used to assess the differences among groups. Results: There were no significant differences among the cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization groups based on immediate ATP test. However, CFU counts were significantly higher in the cleaning and disinfection groups compared to negative control group, while no microbial growth was observed in the sterilization group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that saliva ejectors harbor bacteria capable of growth, even after cleaning with a toothbrush or disinfectant. Autoclaving proved to be the most effective sterilization method, eliminating microbial growth, and allowing for microbiological reuse. Future studies involving diverse microorganisms and different types of contaminants are recommended.
Prismasari et al. (Fri,) studied this question.