New Dental Techniques Lead to Longer Lasting Teeth
To fix tooth decay, a dentist uses a tool called a drill. While there are many pros to using a drill, there is one very large disadvantage: when the dentist is drilling, the drill will grind out healthy parts of the tooth that are too close to the decayed part to be saved. There is a solution to this disadvantage, and it is a new method called air abrasion.
Air abrasion is the process of cleaning teeth using a fine stream of particles that are being blasted at the teeth using air. This mixture of particles contains silica, aluminum oxide, and a baking soda mixture. At Sunnyvale Dental this new method is used for many different reasons. One of the main reasons is that this new method generates no heat, sound, vibration or pressure in the area where it is being used. This makes this tool good to use on children who might have a dental fear. It can be used on many different sites at one appointment, so there are less appointments that need to be made. Another important bonus to using the air abrasion technique is that there will be less anesthetics used because there is no vibration or pressure felt during this procedure.
Even though it can be used to fix multiple areas of the mouth during one appointment, it can only be used on shallow cavities. Research has shown that when using the air abrasion tool on deep cavities, it can cause future air sensitivity in that area of the mouth.
Another use for the air abrasion tool other than drilling out cavities, is cleaning discolored or stained teeth. A Sunnyvale cosmetic dentist can use this tool to drill away tough stains that have not been removed through bleaching. It is clear to see that the air abrasion dental tool provides better care for teeth, whether it be drilling out small cavities, or if it is being used to remove stains.
