From April 2009 to May 2021, every 4 years, Department of Health of United Kingdom has updated and published the HTM 01-05 Decontamination in primary Care Dental. In regard to dental handpieces sterilization, is still remain as same as “sterilization using a type B or type S sterilizer is likely to be useful, although it should be accepted that it is unlikely that sterility will be achieved – whatever sterilizer is used – due to the presence of lubricating materials “(https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HTM_01-05_2013.pdf)

June 2017, Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) made a comment to editor of “Sterilization of dental handpieces” as “The authors paid meticulous attention to the surface disinfection protocols. However, they neglected to test the internal components when assessing the level of contamination of the disinfected handpiece. Surgical power tools can be considered the weak link in the decontamination cycle and present a potential for iatrogenic transmission of infection, mainly because their internal complex designs may restrict access to cleaning and sterilization agents.⁴ Indeed, after surface disinfection of these dental instruments, the internal turbine mechanism retains blood and saliva, as well as viruses and bacteria.⁵,  ⁶,  ⁷,  ⁸ Viable microorganisms could therefore be expelled during subsequent patient treatment, making strict adherence to dental handpiece sterilization a professional imperative.

Instrument sterilization is a cost-effective, evidence-based practice for patient safety. It is true, however, that contrary to the highest safety standards, compliance with handpiece sterilization remain a major challenge for dental education and professional practice worldwide. In a recent survey (2013-2014) among 207 dentists recently graduated from 43 schools of dentistry in Latin America, only 35% declared that they were trained to sterilize handpieces between patients. https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(17)30682-X/fulltext#back-bib0015