Comparison of cavity preparation quality using an electric motor handpiece and an air turbine dental handpiece.
BACKGROUND
The high-speed high-torque (electric motor) handpiece is becoming more popular in dental offices and laboratories in the United States. It is reported to cut more precisely and to assist in the creation of finer margins that enhance cavity preparations. The authors conducted an in vitro study to compare the quality of cavity preparations fabricated with a high-speed high-torque (electric motor) handpiece and a high-speed low-torque (air turbine) handpiece.


METHODS
Eighty-six dental students each cut two Class I preparations, one with an air turbine handpiece and the other with an electric motor high-speed handpiece. The authors asked the students to cut each preparation accurately to a circular outline and to establish a flat pulpal floor with 1.5 millimeters' depth, 90-degree exit angles, parallel vertical walls and sharp internal line angles, as well as to refine the preparation to achieve flat, smooth walls with a well-defined cavosurface margin. A single faculty member scored the preparations for criteria and refinement using a nine-point scale (range, 1-9). The authors analyzed the data statistically using paired t tests.


RESULTS
In preparation criteria, the electric motor high-speed handpiece had a higher average grade than did the air turbine handpiece (5.07 and 4.90, respectively). For refinement, the average grade for the air turbine high-speed handpiece was greater than that for the electric motor high-speed handpiece (5.72 and 5.52, respectively). The differences were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
The electric motor high-speed handpiece performed as well as, but not better than, the air turbine handpiece in the fabrication of high-quality cavity preparations.
Kenyon
Brian J
BJ
Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. bkenyon@sf.uop.edu
Van Zyl
Ian
I
Louie
Kenneth G
KG
D000388:Air; D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003754:Dental High-Speed Equipment; D004560:Electricity; D006801:Humans; D019415:Torque