Efficacy of combined chemical and electrochemical decontamination treatments on contaminated healing abutments and their effect on surface topography: An in vitro study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of four decontamination protocols on contaminated healing abutments (HAs) and their effects on surface topography. Methods: Eighty contaminated single-use HA samples collected from human participants were stained with phloxine B and examined microscopically. The retrieved HAs were randomly divided into four test groups: (1) Autoclaving only (AU), (2) 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) + AU, (3) Electrochemical treatment (EC) + AU, (4) NaOCl + EC + AU, and positive control (contaminated without any treatment).Four new unused HAs served as negative controls (NC). The surface features were analyzed using stereo microscopy (SM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and optical profilometry.Results: The lowest decontamination efficacy was observed for the AU group. The NaOCl + AU and EC + AU groups effectively removed residual contamination, whereas EC + AU showed better decontamination results than NaOCl + AU. SM, SEM, and EDS analyses revealed the best decontamination efficacy in the combined NaOCl + EC + AU group compared to the other groups. Surface roughness (Sa), developed surface area ratio (Sdr), and texture-aspect ratio (Str) in AU, NaOCl + AU, EC + AU, and NaOCl + EC + AU groups were not statistically significant compared to the NC group. Conclusions:The combination of NaOCl with subsequent EC can remove soft and hard deposits from the surface of HAs compared to NaOCl alone and EC alone, without altering the surface topography of HAs.

Effect of chemical and electrochemical decontamination protocols on single and multiple‐used healing abutments: A comparative analysis of contact surface area, micro‐gap, micro‐leakage, and surface topography

“…This study provides a comparative assessment of various parameters of reused HAs. NaOCl is the most commonly used chemical solution for the decontamination of used HAs and has demonstrated promising results, although it cannot completely clean the HA surface 9,11,13,23 . To our knowledge, the current study is the first in vitro experimental study to report the frequencies of reused HAs on the implant‐HA micro‐gap, microleakage, and surface topography following chemical and combined chemical and electrochemical cleaning protocols.…”

“…Additionally, accumulation of biological materials in small areas was observed on the HA surface in Group Ia. These results suggest that the proteolytic action of NaOCl alone could not completely remove the biological materials from the biofilm‐contaminated HA used once 9 . Moreover, the residual debris was observed on the surface of the screw thread region of HAs following chemical decontamination.…”

“…HAs obtained postimplantation were marked with an identification symbol on the occlusal surface. The retrieved HAs were randomly divided into two groups according to the cleaning protocol: (group I, n = 40) ultrasonication with 5.25% NaOCl solution for 15 min and steam autoclaving (30 min exposure, 15 min drying), and (group II, n = 40) ultrasonication with 5.25% NaOCl solution for 15 min, followed by electrochemical cleaning 9 and steam autoclaving using random table numbers generated by the http://www.randomizer.org website. The control group (group III, n = 10) consisted of new unused HAs purchased from the same company.…”

“…“Re‐sterilization” refers to the repeated application intended to eliminate or destroy all viable forms of microbial life (e.g., bacterial spores) to an acceptable sterility assurance 7 . The feasibility of reusing dental components with sterilization processes has shown encouraging results 8–13 . However, biological materials may remain on the HA surface even after sterilization 14,15 .…”

“…Based on systematic review, 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is the most used chemical solution for decontamination of used HAs, although residual materials remain on its surface 23 . The combined use of chemical and electrochemical decontamination protocols can completely remove contaminants from the surfaces of one‐time used HAs without affecting their surface topography 9 . Previous studies evaluated a one‐time decontamination protocol; to our knowledge, the decontamination protocols of multiple‐used HAs and information on the frequency of reusing HAs with regard to safety remain unknown.…”