NEW DRILL FOR TEETH

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 17

NEW DRILL FOR TEETH

Absence Of Pain Claimed (From a Reuter Correspondent) TOKYO. The dentist’s drill, which has made many a courageous man cringe in the dentist’s chair, may no longer become so frightening if a newly-invented drill comes into common use. Professor Shinjiro Takahashi and Professor Tokuro Muramatsu, of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, claim the development of a new superspeed hydro-turbine drill, which just about does away with pain, vibration and friction heat in treatment of decayed teeth. Use of the new drill is said to cut drilling time to one-fifth of that normally expended in such an operation. Dental drills at present are powered by electric motors which spin bits fitted into the hand piece by a series of revolving belts, but the new drill is driven by a small turbine in the handpiece which works on a pumping principle with oil or water under pressure. The speed of the revolving bit can be regulated. The new instrument can produce from 30.000 to 70.000 revolutions a minute as against 4000 to 7000 revolutions by a normal drill. Preliminary tests with about 300 patients requiring various types of drilling or grinding are reported to have shown a virtual absence of friction heat and vibration, which have been the bane in the treatment of tooth decay.