Linear dimensional accuracy of stereolithographic surgical guide after chemistry and physics sterilization.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dimensional stability of prototyped surgical guides after autoclave and 2% glutaraldehyde sterilization processes. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty prototyped surgical guides were prepared and submitted to two sterilization processes (n = 10): Physics - sterilization by autoclave (saturated water vapor under pressure, temperature of 126 to 130 °C, pressure of 1,7 at 1.9 kgf/cm2, 16 min); Chemistry - sterilization by 2% glutaraldehyde for 10 h. Six pre-established points were measured in the prototyped surgical guides, before and after sterilization, using a digital caliper rule. The comparisons were made using orthogonal contrasts using the linear model of mixed effects (random and fixed). RESULTS there are no significant differences between autoclave and glutaraldehyde 2% (p>0.05) there are significant differences after autoclave sterilization (p 0.05). CONCLUSION autoclave promoted dimensional alteration of the prototyped surgical guides, and the chemical sterilization by glutaraldehyde 2% did not cause dimensional alteration of the prototype surgical guides, being a favorable choice for sterilization. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE the sterilization of surgical guides can be performed through the chemical process with 2% glutaraldehyde without changing the linear precision of the prototype surgical guides.