Vibration Exposure and Transmissibility on Dentist’s Anatomy: A Study of Micro Motors and Air-Turbines

Harish Kumar Banga, Pankaj Goel, Raman Kumar, Vikas Kumar, Parveen Kalra, Sehijpal Singh, Sunpreet Singh, Chander Prakash and Catalin Pruncu
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Harish Kumar Banga: Mechanical Engineering Department, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab 141006, India
Pankaj Goel: Department of Business Management, Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Ludhiana, Punjab 141006, India
Raman Kumar: Mechanical Engineering Department, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab 141006, India
Vikas Kumar: Production and Industrial Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh 160012, India
Parveen Kalra: Production and Industrial Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh 160012, India
Sehijpal Singh: Mechanical Engineering Department, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab 141006, India
Sunpreet Singh: Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge 119007, Singapore
Chander Prakash: School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar-Delhi, G.T. Road, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India
Catalin Pruncu: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: The use of dental hand pieces endanger dentists to vibration exposure as they are subjected to very high amplitude and vibration frequency. This paper has envisaged a comparative analysis of vibration amplitudes and transmissibility during idling and drilling with micro motor (MM) and air-turbine (AT) hand pieces. The study aims to identify the mean difference in vibration amplitudes during idling, explore different grasp forces while drilling with irrigant injection by the dentist, and various vibration transmission of these hand pieces. The study utilized 22 separate frequency resonances on two new and eight used MMs and two new and eight used ATs of different brands by observing the investigator at 16 different dentist clinics. The study adopted a descriptive research design with non–probability sampling techniques for selecting dentists and hand pieces. Statistical methods like Levene Test of Homogeneity, Welch ANOVA, independent t-test, and Games–Howell test were utilized with SPSS version 22 and MS-Excel. The results reveal that vibration amplitudes and vibration transmissibility when measured at position 2 are higher than in another position 1. Vibrations during idling for used MMs are more than AT hand pieces, and the used MM (MUD) and used AT (AUA) hand pieces differ due to their obsolescence and over-usage. Vibration amplitudes increase every time with the tightening of grasping of the hand piece. Vibration amplitudes for each grasping style of MM hand piece differ from all other grasping styles of AT hand pieces. Routine exposure to consistent vibrations has ill physical, mental, and psychological effects on dentists. The used hand pieces more hazardous as compared to newer ones. The study suggests that these hand pieces must be replaced periodically, sufficient to break between two operations, especially after every hand piece usage. Hence, the present research work can be further extended by creating some control groups among dentists and then studying the vibration amplitude exposure of various dental hand pieces and subsequent transmissibility to their body parts.

Keywords: air-turbine hand piece; grip force; micro motor hand piece; vibration exposure; vibration transmissibility; dentistry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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