Control of tip oscillation in magnetostrictive dental scalers

Ultrasonic dental scalers are electronically powered dental cleaning tools which are commonly used by clinicians for dental cleaning. They were developed in the mid 1950s [S.C. Trenter, A.D. Walmsley, G. Landini, J.M. Shippen, Assessment of the ultrasonic dental scaler insert, Med. Eng. Phy. 24 (2002) 139–144]. Ultrasonic scalers are being widely used with few studies on the correct methods and techniques that should be used to obtain their maximum efficiency. Different types of inserts/tips do not show clearly which particular designs are best suited to the task of removing dental calculus to combat periodontal disease. The aim of this study is to begin preliminary investigation on whether the performance of these clinical instruments may be improved if the displacement waveform of the scaler tip could be controlled.