The use of motorized dental tools has taken the place of hand work in floating teeth and performing many dental procedures. The objective of a recent study was to examine the effect of temperature increases within cheek teeth during motorized dental procedures.
Continuous formation of secondary dentine by odontoblasts prevents pulp exposure while tertiary dentine serves to repair pathology that threatens to expose the pulp. Heating of the teeth with rotational disks used for motorized dental procedures can create serious adverse effects. Even a 5.5o C temperature elevation destroys dental pulp, resulting in an open pulp cavity.
Reaching this critical temperature during dental work is time dependent. The report specifies the minimum time required for temperature to increase by 5. 5o C in mandibular cheek teeth is 38 seconds, and in maxillary cheek teeth is 70 seconds when grinding at 12,000 rpm. If the rotational speed is doubled, the time to increase to this temperature is halved in maxillary teeth and drops by two-thirds in mandibular teeth.
Of noteworthy interest is that this study demonstrated that cooling to the initial temperature takes more than twice as long as it takes to achieve the temperature increase.
Based on all the findings from this study, several recommendations are stated by the authors:
• The occlusal tooth surface should be checked for physiological occlusal pulp closure.
• Rotational speed should be as low as possible.
• A grinding interval at one particular spot of a maximum of 30 seconds should not cause pulp damage.
• Equine dentists should be circumspect in how much work is done with motorized equipment and for how long.
Citation: Haeussler, S.; Luepke, M.; Seifert, H.; Staszyk, C. Intra-pulp temperature increase of equine cheek teeth during treatment with motorized grinding systems: influence of grinding head position and rotational speed. BMC Veterinary Research (2014), 10:47.
