With the rise in popularity, and now nearly universal acceptance of fiber optic high speed dental handpieces, more and more dentists are starting to complain about a lack of visibility when using a slow speed dental handpiece during trimming and polishing procedures.
Luckily, the solution to this already exists; fiber optic slow speed attachments and motors are available from a wide variety of manufacturers.
If you are currently using an electric handpiece motor for your high speed, fiber optic slow speed attachments will click right onto your existing motor, allowing you to use the light contained in it.
If you prefer an air driven motor, slow speed air motors are also readily available with fiber optic lighting. Some of these motors even feature quick disconnect bases to make lubrication and cleaning easier. Read my earlier article about maintenance of slow speed dental handpieces here.
There is a cost associated with the use of fiber optic slow speeds, as you might imagine. Generic ‘throw-away’ slow speed motors and attachments are very inexpensive, but fiber optic attachments can run upwards of $600, depending on make, chuck style, and other features. The fiber optic motors are also quite expensive when compared to the standard variety. It helps to remember that, when properly maintained, these motors often last more than a decade, so the actual price difference per year of use is quite small.
Finally, to use a fiber optic slow speed you also need to ensure that you have a fiber optic tubing and power supply available in your dental unit. If the dental delivery system has an existing fiber optic power supply, it is usually possible to hook up multiple handpieces to it, but you will almost certainly have to add a fiber optic handpiece tubing. The cost of these tubings has been coming down for the past couple of years, and this is no longer a large investment.
With a little bit of shopping, and some work on the part of your technician, you can improve visibility, and probably improve the quality of your work, with the addition of fiber optic light.
Tags for this article :Dental Equipment Dental Handpieces dental handpieces fiber optic lighting slow speedTags: Dental Equipment, Dental Handpieces
