Efficacy of DISIFIN® for Surface, Instrument and Gloved Hand Disinfection

Infection control in dental clinics is the responsibility of oral health care workers. The cost of effective infection control resulted in the availability of different products. Previous product evaluations revealed that disinfectants marketed as Steritech® products compared well with the traditionally used Hibiscrub® for disinfection in the dental clinic. Objective: This study evaluated effectiveness of DISIFIN® in comparison with Steri301®, and with 70% ethanol as a positive control, for the disinfection of working surfaces, instruments and gloved hands. Methods: Clinical surfaces, stainless steel instruments and gloved hands were contaminated with known concentrations of Streptococcus mutans (ATCC25175), Escherichia coli (ATCC35218), Actinomyces naeslundii (ATCC10301) and Candida albicans (ATCC10231) under controlled conditions. Swabs and agar impressions confirmed contamination. The surfaces, instruments and gloved hands were then disinfected by standardized procedures and the number of surviving organisms on the different surfaces and instruments was determined by swabbing and serial dilution, whilst the number of surviving organisms on the gloved hands were determined with impressions on agar plates. The experimental procedure was done in triplicate. Results: Undiluted surface swabs showed growth of all the organisms after disinfection with ethanol, growth of E. coli were observed after disinfection with Steri301® and growth of S. mutans and C. albicans were observed after disinfection with DISIFIN®. All organisms were present in very low numbers and no growth was seen in diluted samples. Swabs from disinfected instruments failed to produce any growth of microorganisms. Impressions of gloved hands showed growth of S. mutans and C. albicans after disinfection with ethanol, E. coli and C. albicans after disinfection with Steri301® and E. coli after disinfection with DISIFIN®. Conclusion: DISIFIN® is as good a disinfectant as Steri301® and both DISIFIN® and Steri301® actually disinfected surfaces better than 70% ethanol.