Towards Drill Free Dentistry: Bioactive glasses for cutting cavitites in teeth by air abrasion

Air abrasion technique has been in use since 1940’s. It lost its popularity against the traditional dental drill as amalgam was the most popular restorative material then and air abrasion lacked the ability to prepare cavity margins accurately. With the emergence of Minimal intervention philosophy and introduction of adhesive restorative dental materials, air abrasion has experienced a rebirth. Air abrasion works on the principle of kinetic energy and utilizes alumina particles to abrade the surface. Alumina particles are effective in cutting but could be toxic if inhaled. Therefore this book explains a study in which bioactive glasses were used to successfully replace alumina in the air abrasion system. These bioactive glasses were hard enough to cut cavities in teeth and were also able to form apatite in vitro. Dental researchers can utilize the knowledge from this book to replace alumina in the air abrasion system by the bioactive glasses which are more useful and dental practitioners can learn, how to effectively utilize air abrasion technique in their practices as an alternative to dental drill and provide their patients with a fearless dental experience.