Qualitative and quantitative analysis and comparison of automatic injection of prophylactic paste with the conventional polishing technique

Polishing is a method to make tooth surface smooth using a bristlebrush or other methods with an abrasive prophylactic paste. Placing the pasteon the brush by hand is time-consuming. The aim of this study was qualitativeand quantitative evaluation and comparison of a new automatic instrument withconventional manual technique in terms of polishing time and the number ofteeth polished per specific time intervals and by asking for the ideas ofdental practitioners.

In this study, 60 tooth samples were randomly selected from theupper and lower jaws and underwent polishing with an automatic polishing systemand conventional polishing system and the number of teeth polished in a minutewas calculated. Qualitative evaluation was carried out using a questionnairecompleted by users in relation to the performance of the new system incomparison to the conventional system. Data were analyzed with SPSS 11 usingtwo-way ANOVA (α = 0.05).

Polishing time decreased up to 60% with the automatic system,which was statistically significant (p value = 0.003). The jaw type had nosignificant effect on procedure time and the number of teeth polished duringtime intervals with the new system compared to the conventional system (p value= 0.3, p value = 0.96). In relation to quality evaluation of the new system,86.6%, 10% and 3.3% of the users rated its efficacy as good, fair and weak,respectively. In addition, 76.6% of users were satisfied with the new system’sefficacy; 73.3% were interested in buying the new system; 60% were satisfiedwith dilution of paste with water; and there was a 50% increase in toothsurface smoothness with the use of the new system.

Under the limitations of the present study, automatic polishingsystem was superior to the conventional system quantitatively (time and thetotal number of teeth polished) and qualitatively (user satisfaction,ergonomics and ease of use). Further studies are recommended.