Influence of scaler tip design on root surface roughness, tooth substance loss and patients' pain perception: An in vitro and a randomised clinical trial

• Main Authors: Hayei, Nur Ayman Abdul, Yahya, Noor Azlin, Safii, Syarida Hasnur, Saub, Roslan, Vaithilingam, Rathna Devi, Baharuddin, Nor Adinar
• Format: Article
• Published: BioMed Central 2021
• Subjects: R Medicine; RK Dentistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/28328/

BackgroundThe influence of scaler tip design on root surface roughness, tooth substance loss and patients' pain perception is investigated. MethodsThis article was divided into the following parts: Part 1 Surface roughness and substance loss: an in vitro study, which involves intact extracted teeth sectioned and treated using a piezoelectric ultrasonic device (PM200 EMS Piezon, Switzerland) with a conventional scaler tip (FS-407) and a Perio Slim (PS) scaler tip (Perio Slim DS-016A). All sectioned samples for tooth surface roughness (n=20) and tooth substance loss (n=46) analyses were measured and compared using a 3D surface texture analyser and scanning electron microscope (SEM) respectively, at baseline and following scaling. Part 2 Pain Perception: a clinical study, which was a split mouth study design including 30 participants with gingivitis and/or mild chronic periodontitis; treated with supra-gingival scaling from teeth #13 to #23. Subjects were randomised to group A or group B. Group A was treated first with PS scaler tips, whereas group B was treated first with conventional scaler tips. Pain perception was recorded using the visual analogue scale (VAS).ResultsIn vitro study: both scaler tips caused significant reduction in root substance roughness after scaling (p<0.05), but no significant difference between the two scaler tips (p>0.05) was observed. The PS scaler tip caused statistically significantly less root substance loss (p<0.05) when the initial thickness of the tooth was <1000 mu m. Clinical study: the participants reported significantly lesser pain score during scaling using the PS scaler tip (median: 3) than when using the conventional scaler tip (median: 5) (p<0.05).ConclusionsIn the in vitro study, using a slim scaler tip design causes less tooth substance loss compared to a wider scaler tip design. In the clinical study, less pain was observed compared than a wide (conventional) scaler tip design.