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) and there are not significant differences after 2% glutaraldehyde 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.