Over the last decade many new technologies have been incorporated into dental practices including digital impression systems, diode lasers, digital radiography, Dental Curing Light , and caries detection devices, yet many individuals are using the exact same handpiece they have always used. Most likely this is an air-driven handpiece with a high pitched whistle and a moderate amount of torque.

The whistle and vibration of these Dental Handpiece  tend to cause a fair amount of anxiety in our patients and the soothing environment clinicians try to provide in their offices is destroyed the moment they step on the rheostat.

The question must be asked whether handpieces have evolved beyond these issues.
 

The Borden highspeed air driven handpiece debuted in 1957 and this introduction revolutionized dentistry; however only incremental changes have occurred in the air handpiece arena since this time. Air-driven handpieces today are certainly lighter, smaller and somewhat quieter then they once were; however these advancements are still relatively minor. Practitioners continue to battle the fact that air-driven handpieces tend to loose their cutting efficiency with dense materials and patients continue to have anxiety based on the noise and vibration associated with these handpieces.

The solution to these issues resides with electric High Speed Handpiece. Electric handpieces have been available to the marketplace for many years and while Europeans and Asians would not think about going back to air-driven handpieces the penetration rate in the United States is still relatively low. Practitioners in the United States have been slow to adopt this technology because traditional electric handpieces tended to be heavy, bulky, difficult to maintain, and somewhat confusing to use.

The marketplace was clearly aware of the fact that electric handpieces have a tremendous amount torque leading to cutting efficiency; however in many peoples eyes the bulkiness of the product and warnings related to potentially burning patients was not worth the benefit.

In an air-driven Dental Handpiece  the speed is a function of the amount of pressurized air that can flow through the turbine. Unfortunately, as rotary cutting instruments meet resistance, the speed at which it can turn decreases and cutting efficiency is lost. In addition, air handpieces tend to have a fair amount of vibration and the concentricity of rotary instruments decreases. In an electric handpiece, air only plays the role of speed regulation as the air approaches a sensor. When a bur meets resistance an electric motor is able to output more energy and continue cutting at essentially the same speed. Historically large motors with intricate carbon brushes were needed to maintain this torque level. Equally important electric handpieces are able to cut more concentrically, leading to highly refined preparation.