What is the main purpose of sterilization in dental practice?

The main purpose of sterilization in dental practice is to totally destroy all forms of life, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores. This is essential in a dental setting where instruments come into contact with blood and saliva, potentially exposing patients to infectious diseases. By achieving complete sterilization, dentists and dental hygienists can ensure that all pathogens are eliminated, significantly minimizing the risk of cross-contamination and infections that could arise from the use of unsterilized or inadequately processed tools.

While reducing the number of bacteria and ensuring a clean environment are important aspects of infection control, they do not encompass the comprehensive goal of sterilization, which is to achieve absolute microbial destruction. Similarly, sanitizing dental instruments is a necessary part of the overall infection control process, but it does not achieve the extreme level of sterility that sterilization does. Therefore, the focus on total destruction of all forms of life is what distinguishes sterilization from other cleaning and disinfection methods used in dental practices.