BIRMINGHAM, UK: Modern high-speed imaging is increasingly being used by science to visualise processes that are too fast for the human eye to detect. Using the method, researchers from the University of Birmingham’s School of Dentistry have now fully revealed the forces at play at the end of an ultrasonic scaler that is commonly used by dentists to clean teeth.
By recording a scaler operating under the microscope at 10,000 times the speed of regular filming, they found tiny water bubbles forming at the end of the scaler, a process known as cavitation. According to them, the area of cavitation near the free end of the tips increased with greater power and with the amplitudes of displacement at the tips.
Already observed in irrigation processes in endodontics, the formation and collapse of water bubbles create significant forces that could disrupt biofilm without touching the tooth’s surface, paving the way for new instrument designs that are less invasive, the researchers said in the paper.
“Other studies we have done, using electron microscopy, have shown that removal of plaque biofilm is increased when cavitation is increased. Putting the pieces together, we can therefore say that altering the shape and power of these commonly used tools make them more effective, and hopefully, pain-free,” commented recent PhD graduate and lead author of the paper Nina Vyas on the results.
School of Dentistry Professor Damien Walmsley added, “Removing dental plaque and calculus, that is the build-up of what we know as tartar or hard plaque, is a big part of maintaining oral health and a regular occurrence in dental check-ups. These findings will help us to understand how to make the tools as effective as possible.”
For the study, a Satelec P5 Newtron Scaler with Satelec tips 10P, 1 and 2 operating at medium and high speeds was recorded at up to 250,000 frames per second in a water tank. The tip displacement was then recorded using scanning laser vibrometry. It is the first time that both methods have been applied to study cavitation around ultrasonic scalers.
The study, titled "High speed imaging of cavitation around dental ultrasonic scaler tips," was published online on 2 March in the PLOS One journal.
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