Evaluation of cutting efficiency of ultrasonic tips used in orthograde endodontic treatment
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 2, 2026
Guided Endodontics: Three-Dimensional Planning and Template-Aided Preparation of Endodontic Access Cavities
Published on: May 24, 2022
Yu-Heng Lin1, André K Mickel, Jefferson J Jones
1Department of Endodontics, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4905, USA.
Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the cutting efficiency of the three different ultrasonic tips for orthograde endodontic treatment: stainless steel, zirconium nitride-coated, and diamond-coated tips. An ultrasonic handpiece was mounted on a custom-made automated balance, and each tip repeatedly penetrated dental stone blocks to a depth of 3 mm for 10 times. The amount of time taken to penetrate 3 mm of stone was measured. The diamond-coated tips showed significantly greater cutting efficiency than either stainless steel tips or zirconium-nitride coated tips. The stainless steel tips showed initial better cutting efficiency, but over time , there is no significant difference between the cutting efficiency of the stainless steel tips and the zirconium nitride coated tips. The diamond coated tips were the only group that showed breakage in this study.
