Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the root surface defect produced by hand curettes and ultrasonic tips with different power settings. Forty root surfaces were divided into 4 groups according the treatment: Gracey curettes, ultrasonic scaler at 10% power, ultrasonic scaler at 50% power and ultrasonic scaler at 100% power. Each specimen was instrumented with 15 strokes and the and divided in the middle to evaluate: (1) the defect depth produced by the instrumentation and (2) contact area of the instrument tips, which was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. ANOVA and Tukey's test were used for statistical analysis (alpha =0.05). The results (mean +/- SD) of the contact area showed significantly greater defects (p<0.05) for the hand instrumented groups (2092.9 +/- 482) compared to the ultrasonic groups (606.8 +/- 283.0; 858.6 +/- 422.5; 1212.0 +/- 366.7, respectively), independently of the power setting. The values for the defect depth on root surface showed no statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between hand instrumentation (66.1 +/- 34.0) and ultrasonic scaling at 10%, 50% or 100% power settings (52.4 +/- 22.1; 72.0 +/- 29.9; 77.7 +/- 37.7, respectively). The findings of this study demonstrate that ultrasonic instrumentation produced a similar defect depth to that of hand instrumentation, with a smaller tip contact area, independently of the power setting used for scaling.
Highlights
The ideal goal of periodontal instrumentation is to effectively remove plaque and calculus without causing root surface damage
The values obtained with the hand curettes did not differ from those obtained with the ultrasonic scaling, independently of the power setting used (p>0.05)
Endotoxins are superficially associated with cementum, dentin and calculus and are removed with brushing, polishing, washing and slight scaling [10]
Summary
The ideal goal of periodontal instrumentation is to effectively remove plaque and calculus without causing root surface damage. Scaling and root planning are the basis of periodontal therapy and various instruments have been designed to achieve this goal. Ultrasonic scaler and curettes are the instruments used for surgical and non-surgical periodontal therapy and have shown similar results as for biological response, plaque/calculus removal and elimination of endotoxin [1]. Root surface roughness after instrumentation is one of the most described alterations in the literature. The relationship between the tip design, applied force, angulations and type of ultrasonic scaler has been studied and all of these variables have been shown to account for the roughness of instrumented root surfaces [5]
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