Dental Air Abrasion

Dental air abrasion, often call micro-air abrasion, is a way of removing decay without using a drill. It generates no sound, no heat, and no vibration while being used. You can simply think of it as a tiny sand blaster gently removing the decayed parts of your tooth.

First developed in 1942 by Dr. Robert Black, it was his hope to make dental visits easier for his patients. After much research and development some units were actually built and sold commercially, but because of a lack of a compatible filling material the use died out. More recently, several high technology developments have brought air abrasion back into the limelight. It is now used in semiconductor manufacturing, and surprisingly as a very gentle way to clean debris from delicate fossils. It has also now returned to modern dentistry.

The device looks like a pen with a small long hose which connects to a “black box” several feet away. At one end of the “pen” is a tiny nozzle that aims and propels a mixture of silica, aluminum oxide or baking soda with compressed air onto the surface of the tooth. Small particles of decayed tooth are removed by the abrasive and suctioned from the tooth and mouth, including any other residues.

In the hands of a well trained USC Encino dentist such as Dr. Melnick, air abrasion is very safe and has many advantages over the conventional drill. Probably the advantage that interest people the most is that the procedure is virtually painless. It is also very conservative and gentle to tooth structure. These properties are what are called “micro-dentistry”, the newest dental technique being implemented. The amount of tooth structure removed is very small and precisely controlled.

The procedure is relatively quick and simple and allows your dentist to treat several areas in your mouth at a single visit. This process is generally done without the need for any anesthetic.In a survey of the family, implant and cosmetic dentists in the Tarzana, Sherman oks, Woodland Hill andEncino we found we were one of the very few dental office using this technique.

New  developments in air abrasion are underway which will hopefully allow it to be used in more situations such as in removing broken amalgam fillings, porcelain fillings and gold fillings from a tooth or preparing a tooth for a crown. Dr. Melnick was personally trained in the use of air abrasion by a UCLA staff member UCLA, the developer of modern air abrasion techniques and an international lecturer. The first family, general, implant, and cosmetic dentist to adopt the procedures in the Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks areas, Dr. Melnick is very experienced and skilled in its use.