Morphological aspect of the attached bacteria by the sterilization method of the ultrasonic scaling tip

소독멸균 방법에 따른 초음파 스케일링 팁에 부착된 세균의 양상

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the bacterial morphology attached on ultrasonic scaler tips using no cleansing solution, alcohol cotton, liquid chemical disinfecting agent, and autoclave method. Methods: Scaling tip was applied to the mouth and the ultrasonic scaler tips were assigned to four groups. Group 1 was control group with no cleansing solution. Group 2 was treated with alcohol cotton. Group 3 was treated with 2% green Y-Na solution in liquid chemical disinfecting agent, and Group 4 was sterilized by autoclave method. Live bacteria were observed by phase contrast microscopy. The scanning electron microscopy(SEM) revealed the morphological characteristics of scaler surface. The type of attached bacteria were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 program. The data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) and Tukey's post-hoc test. Results: The types of sterilization methods had influences on the bacterial viability. The numbers of cocci, bacilli, spiral form bacteria, and filamentous bacteria was observed in $89.00{\pm}3.60%$, $29.67{\pm}3.51%$, $3.33{\pm}0.57%$ and $1.67{\pm}0.57%$ in control group, $31.67{\pm}3.51%$, $63.33{\pm}4.04%$, $2.00{\pm}1.00%$ and $1.67{\pm}0.57%$ in alcohol cotton group, $69.67{\pm}4.50%$, $12.33{\pm}2.51%$, 0% and 0% in liquid chemical disinfecting agent group, and 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0% and 0.0% in autoclave method group. The clean surface of ultrasonic scaler tip was shown on SEM by autoclave method. Conclusions: The most effective sterilization method of ultrasonic scaler tip was the autoclave method. Autoclave method is the most effective sterilization method and can reduce the cross-infection in the dental clinic.