Considerations When Buying a Dental Handpiece

You're listening to The Dr. Phil Klein Dental Podcast Welcome to the show. I'm Dr. Phil Klein. Dental handpieces are the workhorse of the operatory. If they go down, so does your practice. So today we'll be discussing how handpiece innovation can deliver operator confidence, reliability, create predictable tooth preparations while improving the patient experience. Our guest, Dr. Lori Trost, has a comprehensive restorative practice in the greater St. Louis area. She is a recognized dental educator, has authored a wide variety of professional articles, and consults for many dental manufacturers. Before we get started, I would like to mention that Dr. Trost's webinar, titled Control Your Handpiece Spin, is now available as an on-demand webinar on VivaLearning.com. Simply type in the search field Trost, T-R-O-S-T, and you'll see it. If you and your dental team want to learn more about dental handpieces, I highly recommend this webinar. It's ideal for the entire dental team. Dr. Trost, it's a pleasure to have you on Dental Talk. Thank you, Dr. Klein. Happy to be here. And as always, spend some time with you and share some thoughts. Yeah, it was great seeing you in New York. And I heard your lecture there went phenomenally well, which is not surprising to me. And you've filled a house with standing room only. So we're pretty happy to have you on our show. My first question may sound simple, at least on the surface. but I know there's more to it. So what role does a handpiece play in a dental practice? A handpiece is an absolutely vital component to a practice for so many reasons, because you rely on a handpiece to do literally every procedure that you do restoratively. And you have to have a dependable, predictable handpiece. You have to have a handpiece that you rely on that can work, has just an amazing ability to do all the tasks that you ask it to do, that you expect it to do. But, you know, really practices revolve around a handpiece. And if it goes down, the practice goes down. So it's really critical to have a handpiece that you rely on its function, its stability, its balance, its durability in the mouth. And then we task it with all these other components of maintenance, sterilization, and then procedures. So it's really, it's a centerpiece of our practices. And we have to have just really equipment that we can rely on, that we know every day we go in, it's going to work. And that's just a critical element that we lean on all the time. Yeah, so it's the workhorse of our operatory. and the mainstay of our routine procedures that we do day in and day out. But not all handpieces are alike. We certainly want one that works reliably as long as possible and can handle the difficult tasks that we're talking about. But we also don't want to overpay for a handpiece. So what are the main considerations a clinician should keep in mind when purchasing a handpiece? When you look at air-driven handpieces, and there's some really great ones on the market today, which I just absolutely like because they're very cost-effective. One of my favorites is the Aries 500 Elite. The balance this has in my hand, I have a smaller hand, I have a size 6 glove that I wear compared to maybe, you might have a larger hand than I do probably. But this handpiece is absolutely, it's a tiger in the mouth. It really has an extreme amount of power. it offers a balance you don't feel a tug of a cord i think you consider how much airflow comes out of them water flow irrigation because you want to keep your preparations really irrigated well to keep the tooth cooled as you're cutting and keep the burr clean as you're cutting because you're going to be more precise and more accurate There's a lot of things that you have to really consider, and certain hand pieces offer improved illumination when you're looking in the mouth, especially back up on the upper second molar, say, right? You look at vibration. There's a lot of components that you really want, and I think you need to really try the hand piece, and sometimes not even at a show, but talk to the rep and maybe bring it into your practice and use it for several days within your practice, too, because then you're going to see how you use that hand piece. through the procedures that you do you know whether you're doing single you know crowns if you're doing quadrant dentistry if you're removing zirconia you know there's a lot of different surfaces and materials that we are cutting through with these hand pieces now you've got to have something that really can be very robust and have and offer a lot of the power and especially if you're doing multiple preparations i did a case the other day where I was prepping six units. I mean, that's a lot of stress on the hand, on your eyes, just on your shoulders. And then more efficiently that you can cut and have a hand piece, basically like the Aries 500 Elite, I'm telling you, it makes an enormous amount of difference because you can do it faster, easier, and better. And with less vibrations, it's a much more comfortable experience too for the patient because you're able to be more efficient as you cut. Then we have to think about that choice of going air-driven or electric. Now, for most of your crown and bridge that you do, you're using air-driven? I use a combination of both, and I'll be very honest when I say that. But I have two main operatories that I work out of, and just depending on how the patient seats, we're going to decide one will be probably in air-driven and the other will be in the electric room. It doesn't matter. I like both handpieces because I can compare them, especially if I have an air-driven handpiece. that is really unparalleled in its torque and its ability electric you can have the ability to obviously dial up or dial down on your speeds and that's an advantage there with that but if you have a say a procedure where you're going to be doing two crown preps and they're back to back i can have a hand piece like the aries 500 and i can just roar through those and really i'm doing a very effective job of tooth removal precision because the power and the torque that is built within that. You know, you look at other hand pieces that are on the market today, especially some of the air dribbins, and many of them you're looking at when you talk about power, you're looking in the 14 to 15 watt range. And if I can have a hand piece that can double that or even almost triple that, I mean, that's a pretty strong. working unit in your hand that you can really remove to structure very intentionally and honestly very effectively. And so not only that too, but cutting through some of these older crowns and removing a PFM, I did that the other day. Boy, it used to be really just cumbersome to do that. And now these hand pieces really allow you to do it much more efficiently, especially with the right choice of bursts too in combination. Yeah, and you do give some lectures on birth selection on VivaLearning.com, so our audience can look those up. So you did talk about torque. Can you simplify the difference between torque, cutting power, and other terms we kind of use when we talk about a handpiece? And by the way, I just do want to mention that when I was at the New York show, I actually picked up the Aris 500 Elite. It's very light. Yeah, it's almost surprising, isn't it? It almost feels like, and I joke often that my handpiece is really an artistry tool, but it really is. We have to use it, and especially doing digital preparations today, we have to have very smooth preparations. We have to have very well-defined margins, and the smoother the preparation, the more well-defined, the more... the easier the scanner can pick all of that information up. Traditional impressions are a different beast when you're doing and prepping teeth, but when you're using a really excellent handpiece that offers the ability to just really, I joke, it's like a hot knife through butter. You can really work with that and feel that. It's a great extension, but breaking down those components that that handpiece has to offer, a speed is... basically the revolution the burr is going to turn and then you start to look at these other you know combinations of power and powers how much energy goes into turning that burr and and many of it like I said hand pieces that we have right now especially the air dribbins hang around the 14 to 15 watt sometimes maybe up to 18 watt level of power of energy it takes to drive that burr and spin that burn that revolution and the the change and the challenge becomes what material is up against and so that's where the torque comes in so how much foam for putzpa has is that burr takes on it can really challenge and cut through that next material it's no different than when you're taking like a high-end fast car around the curve and how you're able to go and manage the curve and keep the power on the the engine and able to really torque around and turn around but it can keep those same revolutions going no matter what you're doing hillside or whether you're doing on a curve in the mouth or a an arc or a margin it's all the same kind of thing so torque is critical because it keeps you in the smoother working realm so you don't have the ditching and it's not going to allow you to really create any jagged edges the more torque you have better because you're going to cut through things quicker and easier and simpler and less hand fatigue too So you have a webinar that you did a great job on called Control Your Handpiece Spin. So tell us why you titled it that and what should we expect to see in that webinar if our audience wants to log in and listen to it? Yeah, the webinar basically just talks about handpiece selection and it talks about... What direction, what do you want to work with? What kind of tools? Because we are doing more artistry today now than ever. And we have to be careful. We want to be minimally invasive when we work in the mouth. We want to be intentional in our restoration choices. And the better we can have a handpiece that can literally help us create that artistry. I don't care if it's a cursive or it's a primary, however you're writing and what you're twisting with your hand. You want to have less vibration. You want to have something that's... and you want to have power and dependability that can really create however you're writing in that mouth, whatever you're doing and removing tooth structure or smoothing or polishing. or finessing. It's all about what that handpiece and it's an extension of you. So when you're controlling that spin, there's a lot of factors that go into that. So it could be burr selection. It could be materials that you're cutting through. It could be tooth structure. It could be adjacent areas that you're looking at, that you're impinging upon. It could be a tight cheek. It might be a fat tongue. There's a lot of things that you have to consider, but you're able to really consider all of these and then take that and really create, I think, a very... much better final outcome. So when it comes to air driven, like the Ares 500 Elite, which by the way is a dental ease product, star dental, I believe from their division, is that a handpiece that can give you access to tough to reach areas as far as ergonomically? Absolutely. It's honestly, it is for me to work on a maxillary second molar is my number one go-to for two reasons. It has an unbelievable illumination factor to it. We've already talked about it's lightweight. It has a small head. It's actually kind of somewhat extended to the point where how the angulation is, you're really able to prep, especially if you're doing a crown on that second molar, it's phenomenal. But in tight spaces like that, in that buccal corridor, it's a wonderful instrument to work with. I like to have a lot of irrigation when I'm working on teeth. And again, that minimizes. Post-operative sensitivity would keep the teeth very hydrated. I think that all combinates. And I think you can have just an exceptional outcome by using that handpiece. But that is my go-to for that reason. How long should a clinician expect to have a handpiece, an air-driven handpiece running efficiently in their office before they have to replace it? What's your experience with that and the particular one you like, which is the Ares 500 Elite? Well, great question, because I get asked this question all the time. I think one of the main factors that you have to consider when you're going to purchase a handpiece and really implement it within your practice is the maintenance aspect. I mean, we put these handpieces, like you say, not only it's just procedurally, but then through the sterilization cycle, and you have to see the wear and tear on that. Most of the hand pieces that are on the market today, especially air driven, they last right around a year. And when I say that, then you're having to look at changing out the turbine. So then that becomes the question, do you get a new hand piece or can you change the turbine? Well, the beautiful thing about this unit here, you're able to literally, it's one of the easiest turbines to change out within the office. It honestly takes maybe 30 seconds to do. So once your assistants or yourself, you learn how to do it quickly. you don't have to send that handpiece off. I mean, that's a very big caveat to think about. So I like that availability. I like to have, if I need it, just keep a turbine around. No big deal. I can change it out in 30 seconds if it would go down and you've got it right there in hand and it's easy. It doesn't have to leave and go off in the mail and who knows where it goes to. So I'm not waiting on a repair. So that's a really big deal. And I think that's a huge game changer for this handpiece. Just in closing, how do you typically try a handpiece? to see if you like it. You know, obviously going to a show, you can see what's available. You can, you know, play around with it a little bit in your hand, kind of start to narrow how it feels, the swivel on it. But I think you really need to have it, talk to your rep or talk, you know, see who can help you get that installed in your office. Many of them allow you to have it for a week within your practice. I think you need to assess. how it works within your operatory, how the cord pulls. If it doesn't pull, then, you know, those kind of situations, how it feels, how it balances. Look at the illumination, look at the water, you know, make sure that you have the proper air settings. That's another really critical factor because many of these have to require a different setting. So make sure you have that. properly set with the manufacturer's recommendation. Those are all little critical elements, you know, that to really consider and make happen. But I think to really task it within your practice for a week, I think is a really good trial run and go from there. Thank you so much, Dr. Trost. We appreciate your input and hope to see you on more podcasts coming up soon. Thank you so much, Phil.