Efficiency of a high-speed handpiece with anti-retraction adapter to minimize cross-contamination during the routine dental procedure: A clinical study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to detect the efficiency of anti-retraction adapter (ARA) attached to a handpiece (HP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two types of dental HP with and without the ARA were used in this study. A total of 30 sets of samples were obtained from two groups and were subjected to a real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and microbial culture for quantitative analysis of total bacterial and Legionella count. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The data obtained were tabulated using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM version 26.0) for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The water samples were analyzed using PCR, Legionella-specific PCR, and culture-based analysis. In Groups 1 and 2, there was no significant difference between bacterial load in the water samples taken from both HP and coupling of the Dental Unit Waterline (DUWL). CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in bacterial load in DUWLs analyzed using quantitative RT-PCR was similar in both experimental groups. Overall, the bacterial load was lower in the group with ARA when compared to the group without ARA but not statistically significant. ARA was not effective in reducing the Legionella species load in DUWLs.