My new boss wants me to remove occlusal stains deep in grooves using the piezo we have. Arent the active parts of the piezo the lateral sides? Is sticking the tip in the grooves really going to do anything? It doesn’t seem to work for me. Sometimes I can use hand instruments to remove some but for the most part I can’t remove stains in the grooves. I feel like a bad hygienist but aren’t most of those stains impossible to remove? Any tips?
You are correct- the active parts of the piezo are the lateral sides. Using the tip has the potential of causing surface alterations. Instrumenting in occlusal grooves is a really hard and inefficient way to remove stain, in my opinion. Most dentists I’ve worked for will remove stains in groves with a slow or high speed handpiece. Otherwise, a prophy jet is needed to remove stains on the occlusals. So don’t feel like a bad hygienist!
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