Ultra Sonic Prophy System

Like many modern surgical instruments: the ultrasonic system uses the high speed vibrations of sound waves to thoroughly clean the surface of the teeth. This is especially effective for use in Periodontal maintenance. Rather than just hand scaling, when there is periodontitis present the ultrasonic can do more for deep cleaning.

The ultrasonic does 3 things:

1. The vibration of the tip of the instrument against the tooth dislodges any hard calculus adhering to the tooth structure.
2. The water flow flushes away any debris and irrigates and clears any bleeding so the clinician can see better and the mouth doesn’t taste so bad.
3. The motion of the tip of the instrument in the flow of water produces bubbles that cavitate (implode) and when they do this they break up the cell walls of bacteria – you get some bug zapping happening.

Finally, a very quick polish with the prophy paste to ensure that there is no stain remaining and you should be good to go.

Basically it boils down to gum diseases being caused by biofilms ( plaque) and the ultrasonic disrupts biofilm better than handscaling alone.

Once Completed you can see the immediate effect on the periodontal tissue. The gums change in color to a healthier pink, show less swelling and inflammation around the roots of the teeth, and bleed less when daily dental hygiene is used. With the teeth now having a clean smooth surface below the gum line, the tissue can then grow back and adhere to the tooth surface better.
Technical Stuff:

Ultrasonic cleaners are used at frequencies from 20 to 40 kHz.  An ultrasonic cleaner works mostly by energy released from the collapse of millions of microscopic cavitations near the dirty surface. The bubbles made by cavitation collapse forming tiny jets directed at the surface.