Which are You Getting from Your Power Scaler?

Nancy Miller, RDH, BA

Practices needs this course. Current research is proving ultrasonic debridement to be more therapeutic in terms of bacterial debridement than hand instrumentation. Ultrasonic scalers used with an appropriate technique gain wider patient acceptance due to perceptions of higher comfort level and less time spent in the clinical chair. The public’s increasing awareness of a "newer cleaning technique" may leave you out in the cold if you're not offering it. Ultrasonics are more ergonomically friendly to practitioners, so there is less chance for carpal tunnel and repetitive motion stress syndromes. Ultrasonics require little investment or maintenance after the initial start-up, and you may already have the appropriate equipment.

Don’t hygienists learn to use ultrasonics in school? Past ultrasonic instruction focused on usage for gross debridement of hard deposits only. Although curriculum updates have occurred, many hygiene programs will still focus on hand instrumentation techniques and offer little instruction in ultrasonics as we’re using them today. As a practicing clinician, Miller practices what she preaches and her presentations are therefore accurate and well targeted at today’s relevant issues.

Why instruction is needed – why you should NOT plug in and go. Most hygienists have to unlearn what they learned about ultrasonics and hand instrumentation before adapting to today's techniques. Also, there is a plethora of old and new equipment, technology and theory out there that must be dealt with before they will feel comfortable and confident in using ultrasonics with today's methods and rationale.