While doing a recent search of the Internet looking for new research publications on ultrasonic scaling, I found a large number of dental office websites advertising that they offer "microsonic scaling."
Typically, these websites state something such as the following:
- "We offer hand and microsonic scaling to effectively and comfortably clean your teeth."
- "In one quick swoop, microsonic scaling breaks up these irritants and washes them all away."
- "A device known as a microsonic scaler will vibrate the tooth and tissues around it to dislodge the plaque and calculus."
Dental offices using the terms "microsonic" and "microsonic scaling" are not limited to one area of the U.S.; they are located throughout the U.S.
Is this a new technology? Is there a new device on the market, called the microsonic scaler? If you are a dental hygienist getting nervous because you have not heard of it, relax. You probably already have one.
Microsonics is nothing more than another term for ultrasonics.
Ultrasonics refers to acoustic energy (sound) in the form of waves, which is measured in kilohertz (kHz). One kilohertz is a unit of sound energy equal to 1,000 cycles per second. As a reminder, when referring specifically to power scaling equipment, sonic scalers operate in a range from 2500 kHz to 7000 kHz, magnetostrictive ultrasonic scalers operate in a range of 18,000 kHz to 45,000 kHz, and piezoelectric ultrasonic scalers operate in a range of 25,000 kHz to 50,000 kHz.
What is the origin of the term "microsonic scaling"? It is attributed to John Y. Kwan, DDS, and Pam Hawkins, RDH, who coined the term "micro ultrasonics" in the 1990s (Access, July 1996, pp. 25-28), as explained in an article Dr. Kwan authored on periodontal debridement in 2005 (Journal of the California Dental Association, March 2005, Vol. 33:3, pp. 241-248). To date, this term is not found in the scientific literature or dental hygiene textbooks, so do not feel uncomfortable if you have never heard of it.
So, long story short: Microsonics is a term being utilized for marketing, and if it makes dental treatment more appealing to patients, that could spell success for dental health!
Caren M. Barnes is a dental hygienist and a professor in the department of dental hygiene at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln, NE.
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