Ceramic Vs Stainless Steel Bearing: What Is Best For Air Rotor Handpiece

High-speed dental handpieces are crucial dental equipment in daily dental practice to carry out various dental procedures that revolve at speeds up to 4, 00,000 rotation per minute. The bearings inside these handpieces support the bur and enable it to revolve more quickly to cut the tooth during dental procedures. The bearing is essential to the handpiece’s operation. Therefore, if a high-quality bearing is not used, it will result in surface wear and eventually cause tool failure.

What are the bearings used in dental handpieces?

Bearing for dental appliances come in a variety of shapes and materials resulting in a wide range of quality and price. Dental bearings are made with high-quality precision, accuracy, and dependability. Based on shape these bearings are of two types – Radial contact bearing and angular contact bearing. These radial bearing handpieces have an advantage as these bearings can be loaded axially from either side whereas angular bearing handpieces can only be loaded from one side however with greater loads.

Similarly based on the material used there are two types of ball bearings used in dental handpieces. The first type is composed of ceramic and the inside consists of steel rings. The second type is steel and the inner part also has steel rings. According to professionals, there are various advantages of using ceramic bearings handpieces over steel bearing handpieces. The biggest advantage of using ceramic bearings being instruments run much cooler, thereby extending the overall life of the bearing.

Various research has been carried out on ceramic ball bearing which shows that it is 60% lighter than the stainless steel-based ball. As the weight is lesser, it becomes easier to hold the handpiece, which also generates significantly less centrifugal force when it is in full operation at high speeds. This increases overall efficiency and minimizes overall wear on the outer ring. As the weight of the bearing is very little, the overall surface wear is reduced. Also, the ceramic ball has a harder outer core, so there are very rare chances that contaminants or debris will result in bearing failure. Dental equipment with hybrid ceramic ball bearings is also quieter and requires little to no lubrication because of their frictionless characteristic.

Overall the advantages of using ceramic ball bearing over stainless steel bearing are as follows:

The lubricant placed over ceramic ball bearing has longer service life compared to stainless steel bearings.

The speed with which ceramic bearing handpieces work is higher than those with steel bearing

Ceramic-bearing handpieces work at a temperature much lower than those with steel bearing

These handpieces are very light in weight and can be used comfortably

The noise level of dental handpieces with ceramic bearing is much less than those that contain steel bearing

The assembly process of the dental handpiece that utilizes ceramic bearing is not detrimentally impacted.

Many providers of dental bearings offer bearings of unknown origin, which might be a serious problem. As these bearings mostly come from questionable productions or are produced from low-quality material, they wear out faster or encourage accidents with lack of compatibility.

To avoid these mishaps there is one handpiece in the market colour plus handpiece.

Color Plus Handpiece:

This handpiece gives you improved access and visibility, making it easier to work. The handpiece is easy to work with even in inaccessible areas inside the oral cavity. It’s a uniquely designed handpiece with ceramic bearing for longer service life. The bur retention mechanism is designed to maintain the bur in place safely even when there are higher torque loads, and newer technology offers greater smoothness. It has a mini head and hence can be used easily in the posterior area with add on the advantage of ceramic bearing making it a lightweight handpiece to move smoothly in inaccessible areas.

Conclusion:

When choosing a dental handpiece, it’s important that you always consider buying ceramic ball bearings.  Not only will you experience all of the benefits, but you will be able to optimize the safety and comfort of your patients.