is the ultrasonic scaler. When Dr Foster first put hands the size of small hams inside my mouth, the tooth-cleaning tools of choice were steel chisels, picks and rasps (kept by the dozens of each kind in divided drawers in a tall cabinet) and some kind of power tool that ran by a series of belts on a multi-jointed arm, all black paint and metal pulleys like the elongated monster spawn of a classic singer sewing machine.
The motor started slow, and revved up to a low-pitched growl -- the same tool was used for the really big, hi-torque drills -- and gave you a sense for better or worse of connection to an earlier age of dentistry.
But the ultrasonic scaler puts an end to all that barbarism. In a mere few minutes of chalk-on-blackboard squealing, it does what in the old days required a miniature jackhammer in one hand and the other to brace the patient's skull against the leverage.
Now, when it feels briefly as if my brain is being pureed down to its constituent molecules, I think of the good times with the old belt-and-pulley machine, when the polishing head was on, spreading abrasive and mint, or when one of the big side mills was rumbling gently against a particularly thick layer of calculus. Not of the jaw-dislocating gape the thing needed to get to your back teeth, or the inevitable slips of the bit against mere gum, or the bone-deep soreness that stayed with you for a day or two after the rattling and crunching was over.
Maybe all I really miss is the smell of machine oil.
Posted by wallich at April 13, 2003 12:26 PMPersonaly, I think that anything "ultrasonic" is just plain cool! I am still waiting on a method of cooking based on soundwaves aggitating molecules in the food creating heat!
Posted by: Tim at April 14, 2003 09:40 AM