Studies on dental high-speed cutting.

The primary author, an experienced dentist, cut bovine enamel and dentine horizontally and vertically with diamond points driven by an air-turbine, while the rotational cutting speeds and applied loads were simultaneously monitored. Three cutting techniques employed here were successive cutting with moderate force (S-m); intermittent cutting with moderate force (I-m); and intermittent cutting with a smaller force (I-s). It was found that the cut contact time of S-m, I-m and I-s cuts were about 10s, 0.4 sand 0.25 s, respectively. The maximum applied load during cutting varied, depending upon the cutting direction and the cutting technique. Vertical S-m cut of enamel resulted in the largest applied load of around 105 g. while horizontal I-s cut of dentine brought about the minimum (approximately 35 g). Cutting volumes of dentine tended to exceed those of enamel. It was confirmed that the I-m cut produced larger cutting effectiveness of diamond points on both enamel and dentine compared with the S-m cut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]