How Can You Choose a Good Dental Air Compressor

The dental air compressor is most likely not your main concern when going to the dentist for your yearly check. But studies have shown that the air that your dentist uses to blow dry your teeth isn’t always very healthy for you.

Air compressors are a vital piece of any dental office, since they power many of the most important tools. Selecting the right compressor can help you build a practice poised for growth, while choosing poorly could potentially expose your patients to harm. While using a specific type of air compressor does not guarantee pathogens are not present, it does help to select a compressor that will provide the best air quality possible.

When you’re using a poor-quality air compressor system that delivers either dirty air or an air compressor that delivers air at a lower pressure than required, you’ll see low-quality or even no operation of these devices. If air pressure is good, but the air itself is unclean, then you’re risking internal damage to those units, reducing their overall lifespan.

The biggest concern is moist air that can harm delicate internal machinery and quickly make your tools unusable. Moisture can lead to corrosion, microorganism contamination and decrease the precision of your tools. For those who select a low-quality air compressor, a common issue is carbon buildup that poses an even greater danger to the machinery in handpieces.

Electric dental handpieces also tend to have a greater cost and a higher number of parts that you’ll need to maintain, while air-driven pieces can be obtained in full, often for less than $1,000. Air-driven handpieces also tend to be lighter and easier to handle, with the latest innovations providing greater torque so you can use them for many applications over a longer period of time.

Because you’re working with an oil-free compressor, you may also face louder compression cycles. The good news is that most dental offices are using compressors small enough to be fitted with filter silencers, significantly reducing the noise your unit will make.

Silencers can make sure the environment stays enjoyable for your patients and staff, so they can continue to operate without any safety equipment and so that you’re not creating an environment with any long-term risks related to your use of compressed air.

Oil-less compressors also tend to generate higher heat outputs and have a greater possibility of creating condensation, so they need plenty of room to vent and have air circulate around them. This is typically good news, because it means there is usually enough space to install silencers and covers which can reduce noise, while ensuring the proper breathing room for a full-functioning air compressor.

Sound covers and exhaust/vent silencers tend to come with their own warranty, so working with a reputable dealer can ensure your equipment is properly installed, maintained, and protected for its useful life.

Dental Fillings Help Heal Teeth

The team behind the regenerative biomaterials has been awarded a Royal Society of Chemistry prize for their efforts. The local experts have teamed up with the Wyss Institute at Harvard University to develop therapeutic synthetic, light-curable, biomaterials for dental treatments that support native dental stem cells inside teeth to repair and regenerate dentin, a major component of teeth.

The approach could bring relief to millions of dental patients each year by dental fillings that help heal teeth when they are injured from dental disease or dental surgery and can use dental led teeth whitening machine to white teeth. The research won second prize in the materials category of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2016.

Dr Adam Celiz, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, said: “Existing dental fillings are toxic to cells and are therefore incompatible with pulp tissue inside the tooth. In cases of dental pulp disease and injury, a root canal is typically performed to remove the infected tissues.

“We have designed synthetic biomaterials that can be used similarly to dental fillings but can be placed in direct contact with pulp tissue to stimulate the native stem cell population for repair and regeneration of pulp tissue and the surrounding dentin.

“Our approach has great promise to impact the dental field and this prize provides a great platform to develop this technology further with industrial partners.”

David Mooney, the Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the John Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, added: “These materials may provide an effective and practical approach to allow a patient to regenerate components of their own teeth.”