The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavior of dental students regarding cross infection control, verify that students who are more advanced in the course had better biosecurity conduct. The topics covered included: stages of sterilization processes (disinfection pre-washing, washing and sterilization), surface disinfection and use of mechanical barrier. For this 117 students enrolled in clinical discipline were randomly selected and invited to answer a questionnaire with 19 objective questions. The responses were analyzed descriptively and the χ² test. It was found that 94.0% of students do not perform disinfection prewash, 86.2% always do the washing of instruments prior to sterilization and 2.5% use hand protection appropriate for this purpose. Disinfection of surfaces is performed by 52% of the students and the mechanical barrier is commonly used by 73% of them. Statistical analysis identified that students in eighth and ninth periods have better behavior in to organization of the instrumental for sterilization and to disinfection of surfaces. It was found that students in the later periods show better behavior. There is no a pattern in behavior regarding the prevention of cross infection to the basic steps of biosafety academic center evaluated.
sterilization; disinfection; exposure to biological agents; teaching; education, higher