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Coolant effectiveness in dental cutting with air-turbine handpieces
Brian T W Leung1, John E Dyson, Brian W Darvell
1Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Objective:
To establish a strategy for evaluating coolant effectiveness and to compare typical cooling conditions used in dental cutting.
Materials And Methods:
A test system comprising a resistive heat source and an array of four type K thermocouples was used to compare the cooling effectiveness of air alone, water stream alone, and an air-water spray, as delivered by representative air-turbine handpieces. Mean temperature change at the four sites was recorded for a range of water flow rates in the range 10 to 90 mL min(-1), with and without air, and with and without the turbine running. The thermal resistance of the system, R, was calculated as the temperature change per watt (KW(-1)).
Results:
For wet cooling (water stream and air-water spray), R was 5.1 to 11.5 KW(-1), whereas for air coolant alone the range was 18.5 to 30.7 KW(-1). R for air-water spray was lower than for water stream cooling at the same flow rate.
Conclusions:
The thermal resistivity approach is a viable means of comparative testing of cooling efficacy in simulated dental cutting. It may provide a reliable means of testing handpiece nozzle design, thus enabling the development of more efficient cooling.
