A New Way of Treating Cavities
Air abrasion is a relatively new technology, which in many cases can replace the conventional drill for treating cavities.
A stream of very fine particles, much smaller then grains of sand, gently remove the soft, decayed tooth. Most often anesthesia is unnecessary, which is a big advantage to those of us who do not like the small needle prick needed to give the local anesthesia. Furthermore, as the technique is more gentle then the drill, less healthy tooth substance is removed, which minimizes the trauma to the nerve and the tendency of the tooth to break. Also, the unpleasant noise of the drill is avoided.

Air abrasion does have some limitations. It cannot remove old amalgam fillings, or prepare the teeth for crowns or bridges. Furthermore, very large cavities may also be problematic to treat.

A common problem with other air abrasion systems is that the cutting particles create a lot of dust. We use the state of the art Aqua-cut^® system, which uses a stream of water alongside the cutting particles to avoid the dust. For more information please visit the manufactures web site.