Detection of Hepatitis B Antigen in The Dental Instruments Used in Public Dental Clinics in Duhok Province, kurdistan Region/ Iraq

Aims: Hepatitis B virus infection is a global health hazard. The virus can be transmitted by both parenteral and nonparenteral methods such as direct contact with mucus membrane. Dental instruments can be the source of infection, therefore this study was conducted to detect HBs Ag in dental instruments used in the different public dental centers and clinics in Duhok governorate. Sampling process was from December 2016 to January 2017. Materials and Methods: A total of 549 samples were collected from five different districts as follow: 238 samples from center of Duhok, 121 samples from Zakho, 87 samples from Amedi, 68 samples from Sumail and 35 samples from Aqre. Four different commonly used dental instruments were chose namely: Scaler tips, curette, sickle and chisele. The samples divided into sterilized and used using capital A letter for sterilized and small a letter for used samples. Results: No HBs Ag was detected in all tested samples both sterilized and nonsterilized samples by ELISA technique. The results of the present study indicated to the proper hygienic precautions implemented in public dental centers and clinics as well as to the effectiveness of anti-HBV vaccine that almost all dentists had been received prior working. Conclusions: Further studies are required to cover private dental instruments as well as dentists and assistant technicians using both ELISA and RT-PCR techniques.