Irrigation rates and handpieces used in prosthodontic and operative dentistry: results of a survey of North American dental school teaching.
OBJECTIVE
A data baseline on dental cutting methodologies was established by means of a survey of North American dental school teaching.


METHODS
Sixty-four North American dental schools were surveyed regarding their recommendations on handpiece usage and coolant flow rates in fixed prosthodontics and operative dentistry.


RESULTS
High-speed handpieces were the instruments of choice for tooth preparation in fixed prosthodontics. In operative procedures, recommendations for sole use of the high-speed, the low-speed, or both handpiece types were more uniform.


CONCLUSIONS
North American dental schools advocate greater use of high-speed than low-speed handpieces. Although the use of high-speed handpieces predominate in schools in Canada and Puerto Rico, there is a proportionately higher use of low-speed handpieces than in US dental schools. Few (approximately 1 in 5) schools made recommendations on coolant flow rates during cutting procedures.
Siegel
S C
SC
Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of Maryland Dental School, 666 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. scs001@dental.umaryland.edu
von Fraunhofer
J A
JA
D002170:Canada; D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation / Q000295:instrumentation; D003754:Dental High-Speed Equipment; D003814:Dentistry, Operative / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011476:Prosthodontics / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012212:Rheology; D012575:Schools, Dental; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation / Q000295:instrumentation; D019246:Tooth Preparation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019231:Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic / Q000295:instrumentation; D014481:United States