Interference of electrical dental equipment with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether electromagnetic interference with implantable cardioverter-defibrilllators (ICDs) occurs during the use of electrical dental equipment.


METHODS
Ten different electrical dental devices were tested for their ability to interfere with the function of three types of ICDs at different intervals for 90 seconds, during which the ICD activity was monitored by telemetry.


RESULTS
Only one ultrasonic bath cleaner interfered with two of the ICDs tested up to a distance of 12.5 cm, both during continuous use and intermittent operation. In contrast, the dental chair, electrosurgical unit, both handpieces, ultrasonic tooth scaler, both amalgamators and two other types of ultrasonic bath cleaners failed to produce interference at the minimum distance of 2.5 cm.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that normal clinical use of dental electrical equipment does not have significant effects on the ICDs tested.
Department of Dental-maxillofacial Surgery, Section of Oral Biochemistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands. hs.brand@vumc.nl
H S
HS
Brand
M L
ML
Entjes
A V
AV
Nieuw Amerongen
E V
EV
van der Hoeff
T A M
TA
Schrama
D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D017742:Dental Care for Chronically Ill; D003748:Dental Equipment / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004560:Electricity / Q000009:adverse effects; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000517:prevention & control; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000009:adverse effects; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000517:prevention & control