A high-speed dental handpiece.

A dental drill (or dentist's drill) is a small, high-speed drill used in dentistry to remove decayed tooth material prior to the insertion of a dental filling. Dental drills are used in the treatment of dental caries. The term "dental drill" is considered the more colloquial form of the term "dental handpiece". The latter is a more generic and euphemistic term for generic dental tools. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1807x786, 219 KB) Summary Dental handpiece. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1807x786, 219 KB) Summary Dental handpiece. ... A drill in use. ... A Dentist and Dental Assistant perform surgery on a patient. ... Dental fillings are inserted as restorations in the treatment of dental cavities, after drilling out the cavities. ...

A Modern dental drills can rotate at over 300,000 rpm, and generally use hard metal alloy bits known as 'burs'. Dental burs come in a great variety of shapes designed for specific applications. They are often made of steel with a tungsten carbide coating, or of tungsten carbide entirely. The bur may also have a diamond coating. To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various angular velocity levels between 1×10−7 rad·s−1 and 1×107 rad·s−1. ... Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or min-1) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed, in particular in the case of rotation around a fixed axis. ... An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resulting material has metallic properties. ... Drill bits are cutting tools used to create cylindrical holes. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0. ... Tungsten carbide, WC, or W2C, is a chemical compound containing tungsten and carbon, similar to titanium carbide. ... // A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ...

Dental drills, which have a distinctive, shrill sound, are often a prominent factor in many people's fear of dentistry (dentophobia). Dental phobia is a fear, or phobia, traditionally defined as an irrational and exaggerated fear of dentists and dental procedures. ...

History

Archeological researches in the area of Mergahr, Pakistan resulted in the finding of eleven human teeth that were treated with flintstone tools.^[1] Cavities of 3.5 mm depth with concentric groovings indicate the usage of a drill tool. The age of the teeth has been estimated with 9000 years. In later times, mechanical hand drills were used. Like most hand drills, they were quite slow, with speeds of up to 15 rpm. In 1864, British dentist George Fellows Harrington invented a clockwork dental drill named Erado. The device was much faster than earlier drills, but also very noisy. In 1868, American dentist George F. Green came up with a pneumatic dental drill powered with pedal-operated bellows. James B. Morrison devised a pedal-powered bur drill in 1871. Pebble beach made up of flint nodules eroded out of the nearby chalk cliffs, Cape Arkona, Rügen Flint (or flintstone) is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline silica rock with a glassy appearance. ... A drill in use. ... Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or min-1) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed, in particular in the case of rotation around a fixed axis. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Gear with escapment mechanism In mechanical engineering, a clockwork is either a lightweight mechanical linkage, especially one involving multiple axles, or a complete mechanical device whose functioning relies on internal clockwork (in the preceding sense), especially where muscular effort is the sole source of operating power. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Pneumatics, from the Greek πνευματικός (pneumatikos, coming from the wind) is the use of pressurized air in science and technology. ... Note: This page needs to be cleaned up to be brought into conformance with the Manual of Style. ... Hand bellows The bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

The first electric dental drill was patented in 1875 by Dr. Green, a development that revolutionized dentistry. By 1914, electric dental drills could reach speeds of up to 3,000 rpm. A second wave of rapid development occurred in the 1950s and 60s, including the development of the air turbine drill. The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or min-1) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed, in particular in the case of rotation around a fixed axis. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st December, 1959. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... A Siemens steam turbine with the case opened. ...

The modern incarnation of the dental drill is the air turbine handpiece, developed by John Patrick Walsh (later knighted) and members of the staff of the Dominion Physical Laboratory (DPL) Wellington , New Zealand. The first application for a provisional patent for the handpiece was granted in October 1949. This handpiece was driven by compressed air. The final model is held by the Commonwealth Inventions development Board in Canada. The New Zealand patent number is No 102433/104611. The patent was granted in November 27 1950 to John Patrick Walsh who conceived the idea of the contra angle air turbine handpiece after he had used a small commercial type air grinder as a straight handpiece. Dr. John Borden developed it in America and it was first commercially manufactured and distributed by the Dentsply Company as the Borden Airotor in 1957. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Alternatives

Starting in the 1990s, a number of alternatives to conventional rotary dental drills have been developed. These include laser ablation systems and air abrasion devices (essentially miniature sand blasters). Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... Guo et al. ... Abrasion on the palm of a right hand, shortly after falling Abrasions on elbow and lower arm, still healing. ... Man sandblasting a stone wall Device used for adding sand to the compressed air (top of which is a sieve for adding the sand) Diesel powered compressor used as an air supply for sandbasting Sandblasting or bead blasting[1] is a generic term for the process of smoothing, shaping and...

Other uses

Dental drills and drill bits are commonly used by jewellers and hobbyists for high-precision drilling work. Jewellery (spelled jewelry in American English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ... This article is about pastimes. ...

References

• MedTerms definition for Drill, dental
• "Dental drills - enemy of the people?" from the British Dental Association museum
• Australian Dental Journal 1987 32:1 p59-62

The British Dental Association is a trade union representing dental surgeons in the UK with over 18,000 members. ...

External links

• "Dental More Gentle with Painless 'Drillings' and Matching Fillings", Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Consumer magazine, May-June 1999
• "'Robotic' dental drill to be tested on humans", New Scientist, 20 April 2005
• "Dental Technology and Research", Canadian Dental Association Web Site - (PDF file)
• "History of Dentistry", American Dental Association Web Site