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Thinking about investing in electric handpieces for your practice? Here's what you need to know from benefits to integration to maintenance.
It can be difficult to transition away from techniques we've known since dental school, particularly the ones we use every day.
However, in many cases, newer apex locator and techniques can help us perform our work better and more efficiently.
Handpieces provide a great example of this. Most of us probably learned our handpiece technique on air-driven handpieces. While these traditional handpieces are certainly capable of doing good work, in the past few years I have encouraged my students at the University of Washington to try their hand with electric handpieces as well.
My experience using electric handpieces over the past seven years has convinced me that in many instances they are preferable to air-driven. Each dentist must determine what he or she needs in a handpiece. My own practice is equipped with both types, but in the majority of cases today I find myself reaching for the electric.
My handpiece of choice
Since 2005, I have primarily worked with electric A-dec|W&H handpieces using the EA50 LT electric motors and the Synea WA-99LT angle attachment. After experiences with other electric handpieces in the past, I found that I preferred the size pulp tester, weight and stability of the bur in the A-dec|W&H tools to others.
A 1:5 highspeed attachment, 1:1 slowspeed attachment, and a straight-angle attachment give me additional flexibility with the electric models. I use an electric handpiece at a slow speed for tasks like fine finishing of composites. The straight adapter is useful for tasks such as adjusting dentures, bite splints and night guards.
I opted for this setup because I prefer many of the electric handpiece's features over the air-driven handpiece's features. First, the highspeed electric handpiece's torque is significantly better than air-driven, and being able to instantly adjust the speed allows me a great degree of control.
