There has been limited published research assessing the range of oral temperature that the dental hard and soft tissues are exposed to. The temperatures that tooth structure and dental restorations encounter affect the performance of dental materials within the oral environment. This study therefore assessed the range of temperatures that a selected group could tolerate when drinking and also assessed the range of temperatures encountered in various intra-oral sites. These temperature fluctuations are for very brief periods of time but have a wide and varied range. Miniature dataloggers allowed for accurate measurements and recording of temperature from selected sites. The range of temperature recorded amongst the individuals tested shows the protection afforded to the dental hard tissues by the soft tissues of the oral cavity. The maximum and minimum mouth temperatures recorded show that hot fluids can raise the intra-oral temperature of the front teeth to around 70 degrees C and the consumption of iced drinks lowers the same teeth to around 0 degrees C. The range of temperature of hot fluids that can be tolerated by a selected group vary, but this does not seem to be the case for cold fluids. The thermistor beads mounted on the buccal surface of the lower front teeth and the palatal of the upper front teeth are exposed to the greatest temperature fluctuations during drinking fluids from a cup. The importance of these temperatures recorded in terms of dental materials testing and the role of material conductivity warrants further investigation.
Photomicrographs of the surfaces of recently extracted teeth stained with erythrosin dye were obtained. The stained surfaces were treated with an ultrasonic scaler using two different types of scaling tips driven by the same instrument operated at a medium power setting. Small areas of stained plaque removal occurred when the stationary scaling tip was operated without water cooling. Additional areas of removal were observed where a water coolant was present, which were larger than those produced by the non-water cooled tip. These additional areas were influenced by the type of scaling tip used, it's orientation to the tooth surface and it's displacement amplitude. Cavitational activity in the cooling water supply of the ultrasonic scaler is able to remove dental plaque from tooth surfaces and may be a useful adjunct to the mechanical action of the instrument.
A model system consisting of vacuum-deposited aluminum on glass was developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of cavitational activity (occurring within the cooling water supply of a dental ultrasonic scaler) in the removal of particulate material from solid surfaces. The amount of solid material removed from the model system by this cavitational activity was quantified by a spectrophotometric technique. It was shown that cavitational activity occurring within the cooling water is an important contributory factor in the cleaning efficacy of the ultrasonic scaler operated under conditions similar to those employed clinically.
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