Tag: hygienist

The Reason for Using Dental Suction Unit

Do you ever hear your suction, smell your suction, does it ever produce inadequate force to allow all the practitioners in the practice to operate effectively at the same time? Traditional wet vacuum systems are loud, smelly (both from the burnt oil and the debris that is trapped in the tanks for an extended period of time) and use massive amounts of water, up to 200,000 gallons per year, equal to an Olympic size swimming pool worth of water every month. Not only is this an environmental concern, but a major financial sinkhole as well. Why there are many dentists use suction unit?

Keeping the patient comfortable is a high priority.  In response to Jeanny’s question, we suction after giving anesthetic because the anesthetic has a bitter taste, and most patients prefer to rinse out with water and use the saliva ejector.  Also, if the anesthetic sits in the back of your mouth for too long, it may start to slightly numb the back of your mouth and could give the patient a gagging sensation. We will also use the suction to make sure that you don’t get too much water in your mouth while we are working.

When a dental hygienist cleans and polishes your teeth, you can get a lot of cleaning paste in your mouth.  We use the suction to help clean all of that away.  Also, when dentists are do amalgam fillings, pieces of the soft amalgam can sometimes fall away from the tooth surface.

During some procedures, such as white fillings, it is important that the tooth stay clean and dry.  The suction helps keep the tooth dry by sucking away any saliva, blood, and water that may have accumulated around the tooth.  If the cavity went below the gum-line, then it’s pretty likely that the gums will bleed during the filling.

The drill that dentists use to do fillings sprays out a lot of water to keep the tooth cool and clean.  Unfortunately, that water can quickly build up in the mouth and get on the dental mirror.  In order to ensure that the dentist can see the tooth while working on it, it’s necessary to use the high volume suction to suck away all of that debris.

Those are the four main reasons that I came up with as to why dentists use the dental suction unit.  In conclusion, let’s take a look at a question that I asked my dental hygienist as a child.

 

The Benefits of Piezo-electric Scaler

The piezo-electric scaler is a staple in our hygiene rooms. Hygienists in our office rave about our new piezo-electric scalers and, more importantly, patients are very complimentary about how their mouths feel after their maintenance visits. If you have the desire to move into the world of electric scalers, or are ready to upgrade, give considerable thought to the purchase of a piezo-electric scaler. This technology will stand the test of time. It is the ultimate in dental ultrasonic scalers.

Piezo-electric scalers in particular have some distinct advantages over many other conventional ultrasonic units. In addition to the previously mentioned benefits of ultrasonics in general, piezo-electric technology offers the following:

(1) versatile ultrasonic units have numerous clinical applications due to a comprehensive range of accessories; in addition to inserts for use in scaling and debridement, many other inserts are available for procedures such as periodontics, apical surgery, and prosthodontics; dozens of various inserts are offered that all fit on the same handpiece.

(2) less water is necessary during the procedure, adding to patient comfort and operator convenience; less need for management of excessive water accumulation; less water is required because the unit’s efficiency is greater than 90%—there is no delivered energy or mechanical friction, hence, little secondary temperature rise; since there is very little temperature rise, the handpiece can be used without water.

(3) LED curing light is available with some units—much more convenient to assemble and operate than conventional curing lights, saving time, money, and space; the light simply attaches to the unit in place of the piezo-electric handpiece; perfect for sealant curing in the hygiene room as well as for restorative materials.

(4) easy, convenient barrier protection—intraoral camera sheaths intimately fit many piezo-electric handpieces; barrier protection for the unit itself is provided by simply placing a sheet of plastic wrap loosely over the entire unit; with this in place, the operator can adjust the water and power setting and place the dental handpiece in its holder without contaminating the unit, which minimizes the use of surface disinfectant, which would add time following the procedure and risk damaging the unit.

(5) the use of state-of-the-art technology helps to strengthen patient relations; communicating with patients and educating them about the advantages of the piezo-electric scaler is a practice builder; patients feel more comfortable throughout the procedure and confident that they are receiving the best possible care.