2020 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 291-297
This study aimed to clarify the influence of the material of the insert tip of an ultrasonic scaler on the surface of commer cially pure titanium 2 (Cp-Ti) and yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP).
Polished specimens of Cp-Ti and Y-TZP scaled with an ultrasonic scaler using plastic and metal tips were measured with a laser confocal microscope, and the measurements before and after scaling were compared. At the same time, the force applied to each specimen during scaling was measured with a compact multi-component dynamometer.
As a result, Cp-Ti increased the surface roughness after scaling for both plastic and metal tips, especially the surface roughness after using metal tips increased greatly. Y-TZP showed little difference between the surface roughness before and after scaling for both plastic and metal tips. In addition, when plastic and metal tips were used, the force applied to Cp-Ti was large. These results suggest that the use of metal tips as well as plastic tips is not a problem for removing dental calculus ad hered to the surface of Y-TZP.
