Performance of Ultrasonic Retrograde Systems

The aim of this study was to evaluate variations in power output of different Piezon-Master 400 (Electro Medical Systems, Nyon, Switzerland) ultrasonically driven generators and analytic handpieces at a range of power settings. A scanning laser vibrometer was used to measure the maximum vibration displacement amplitude of a KiS 2D tip. Ten repeat scans were made of the unloaded tip oscillation at six power settings. Data were acquired from four different generators and handpieces. Linear trend lines fitted to all tip data showed that none of the generator/handpiece combinations produced a linear increase in tip displacement amplitude with increasing power setting. A univariate analysis of variance (general linear model) showed that generator, handpiece, and power were all significant variables (p < 0.0001). This study showed that there is significant variability in the power output between generators, and not all Analytic handpieces performed consistently when compared with each other.