Avaliação in vitro de diferentes agentes de descontaminação de cones de guta-percha

Abstract

Endodontic therapy is composed of phases in which the aseptic chain breakage may compromise the treatment success. The sterilization impossibility of gutta-percha cones necessitates their prior decontamination. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the four chemical agents efficiency in the decontamination of forty-nine gutta-percha cones contaminated with pure and standardized cultures of Enterococcus faecalis strains. The cones were treated with aqueous solution of 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (group 1), 2% chlorhexidine gel (group 2), Aloe Vera gel (group 3) and apple cider vinegar aqueous solution (group 4). The decontamination capacity was identified by the absence of the culture medium solution (BHI) turbidity in the period of 7 days. Where the cones were immersed after the contamination process. Our results indicate that sodium hypochlorite was the most efficient in the gutta-percha cones decontamination in short time periods.