Abstract
Cavitation occurs around dental ultrasonic scalers, which are used clinically for removing dental biofilm and calculus. However it is not known if this contributes to the cleaning process. Characterisation of the cavitation around ultrasonic scalers will assist in assessing its contribution and in developing new clinical devices for removing biofilm with cavitation. The aim is to use high speed camera imaging to quantify cavitation patterns around an ultrasonic scaler. A Satelec ultrasonic scaler operating at 29 kHz with three different shaped tips has been studied at medium and high operating power using high speed imaging at 15,000, 90,000 and 250,000 frames per second. The tip displacement has been recorded using scanning laser vibrometry. Cavitation occurs at the free end of the tip and increases with power while the area and width of the cavitation cloud varies for different shaped tips. The cavitation starts at the antinodes, with little or no cavitation at the node. High speed image sequences combined with scanning laser vibrometry show individual microbubbles imploding and bubble clouds lifting and moving away from the ultrasonic scaler tip, with larger tip displacement causing more cavitation.
Highlights
Ultrasonic scalers are used for debridement of dental plaque and calculus from tooth crown and root surfaces during routine periodontal therapy [1]
It has been shown in vitro that cavitation occurs in the cooling water around ultrasonic scaler tips which may be aiding in the cleaning process [2]
The aims of this study were to use high speed imaging, Scanning laser vibrometry (SLV) and image analysis to investigate how cavitation at the free end of the tip varied with power and tip design, and to observe and provide quantitative data on various sono-physical phenomena occurring around ultrasonic scaler tips
Summary
Ultrasonic scalers are used for debridement of dental plaque and calculus from tooth crown and root surfaces during routine periodontal therapy [1]. Their primary method of cleaning is through contact of the vibrating metal tip to the surface to be cleaned. It has been shown in vitro that cavitation occurs in the cooling water around ultrasonic scaler tips which may be aiding in the cleaning process [2]. Cavitation is the formation, growth and collapse of microscopic bubbles in liquids when the local pressure falls below the saturated vapour pressure of the liquid [3,4]. In ultrasonic scalers it may be helping to disrupt bacterial plaque and mineralised
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