Air Abrasion in Provo

Air abrasion is a technique applied instead of drilling, for removing decayed tooth, as well as for other dental treatments.

The instrument used for air abrasion has the semblance of a small sandblaster. Using this instrument, a mixture of extremely fine particles of baking soda, aluminum oxide, and silica are sprayed on to the surface of the tooth. These are sprayed with force, using compressed air or gas, through the hand-piece of the instrument. As the powered stream strikes the area, the decayed particles get sprayed off. The decayed portions that are thus removed are suctioned off after that.

Air abrasion is absolutely safe. During air abrasion the patient wears a protective eye cover to prevent the spray getting into the eye. A rubber sheet, known as rubber dam, is used in the mouth to cover the gum and teeth around the area to guard it from the spray. Alternatively, a resin is applied to the area for protection, instead of using a rubber dam.

Provo UT Air Abrasion Method

Air abrasion was invented by Dr. Robert Black in the 1940's, as an answer to the age old challenge of making health care treatment as humane and as atraumatic as possible. The method of removing decayed tooth structure during that time period was typically a belt-driven, rotary handpiece. This type of operative device transmitted a great deal of vibration to the patient's oral structures. This, at the very least, was disturbing and in most cases it was downrightfrightening. This form of mayhem imprinted on those receiving treatment with a most definite dread of the dental visit. In addition, rotary instrumentation of the dental arch led to the associated smells of burnt dentin and the sound of grinding that did in no small part, contribute to the negative public image that plagues dentistry to this day.

Dr. Black devised a system of tooth instrumentation whereby a compressed air stream was mixed in with fine abrasive particles. Properly controlled and directed, this abrasive stream would gently remove the irreversibly damaged tooth structure without vibration, smell, sound and most importantly of all, without an anesthetic injection. Both, patients treated by this new device and the doctors that used it, raved about its capabilities. However, all was not rose-colored in the land of dental air abrasion.

The type of cavity preparation that this new modality generated did not go hand-in-hand with the restorative materials and techniques in place at that time. Silver amalgam and gold were the restorative materials of choice and they really demanded a GV Black cavity preparation form in order to insure success. On the other hand, air abrasion yielded very rounded cavity profiles. This profile is not inherently conducive to mechanical retention. Rather, air abrasion cavity preparations would have to wait until the advent of composite bonding, in order for the conservative cavity form generated from air abrasion to be restored successfully. In addition, there was a competitor lurking right around the corner: the high speed turbine or rotary handpiece.

The turbine was capable of preparing GV Black cavity profiles at a much faster rate than both the low-speed handpiece and air abrasion. The restorative materials and socio-economics of the times demoted air abrasion to a lonely existence. SS White manufactured many Airdent (SS White's trade name for Dr. Black's invention) devices and many can still be found around the country. The armed forces supposedly purchased many of these units. It took the introduction of modern bonded restorative materials to once again force air abrasion into the dental mainstream. This took place beginning with the early 90's. That is the position we find ourselves in today.

Come to the Dentist in Provo UT for more information.