A newly-developed electrodeposited diamond scaler with high abrasive resistance

A diamond scaler on which blade diamond particles were coated by electrodeposition was developed to improve the abrasive resistance of scaler blades. The electrodeposited coating was tested with diamond particles of four different sizes, designated D-4000 with 2 to 4 microns diameter of the particles; D-800 with 12 to 25 microns; D-600 with 20 to 30 microns; and D-400 with 30 to 40 microns. The abrasive resistance of the scalers was examined quantitatively using a recently-developed automatic scaling apparatus that simulated the scaling process of hand instrumentation, as well as SEM observation of the blades. A series of abrasion tests suggested that all the diamond scalers except D-4000 showed better abrasive resistance than the control (D-0), and that D-600 showed the highest abrasive resistance and cutting quality. The SEM observation also suggested that D-600 and D-400 might have higher abrasive resistance. Furthermore, the profilometric evaluation of the surface roughness of the scaled natural dentin after hand instrumentation indicated that the average surface roughness increased in the order of D-4000, D-800, D-600, and D-400, although no marked differences were observed among D-4000, D-800, D-600 and D-0, but not D-400. These results suggested that the electrodeposited diamond scaler with 20 to 30 microns diamond particles (D-600) might have marked abrasive resistance as well as cutting quality without remarkable damage to the tooth surface after conventional scaling procedure.