Raymond Sladek

Plasmas in Dentistry: the Plasma Needle Raymond Sladek

Who is not afraid of the dentist? Or to be morespecific who is not afraid of the dental drill?Caries is a common ailment, that is caused bybacteria in dental plaque. Cavities will form whenyou do not properly remove the plaque on your teeth. The improvement of caries prevention and treatmenttechniques is a major issue in dentistry. Preparationof cavities prior to filling is presently done byremoving infected and non-remineralizable ordemineralized tissue by means of mechanical drilling. During mechanical drilling heating takes place andvibrations are induced. This can cause pain sensationin the patient. Moreover, drilling is oftendestructive: an excess of healthy tissue must beremoved to ensure that the cavity is free ofbacteria. In addition, the remaining tooth structureis weakened and prone to fractures. This book is about the use of non-thermal atmosphericplasmas in dentistry. The idea is to inactivatebacteria in plaque to stop caries. This cleaning canbe done by use of a non-thermal atmosphericmicro-plasma. A plasma needle, which is a handoperating tool, is used to generate the non-thermalatmospheric micro-plasma.