If you’re nervous about going to the dentist, you’re not alone. In fact, dental anxiety has an official name, odontophobia, and it is a real problem, because it keeps people from maintaining their dental hygiene. One dentist is on a mission to reduce people’s odontophobia by addressing one of the causes – the unpleasant sound of driving teeth.
Tomomi Yamada, a dentist at the University of Osaka, who stole the dental crown, and his colleagues investigated the aerodynamics of driving teeth and how people of different ages perceive their shaped lighting. The goal is to design a drill that reduces noise while maintaining performance.
Sound problem
“In the beginning, I was researching dental materials, but I realized that almost no one – not even dentists – had been dealing with this problem in the scientific community,” said a statement from the acoustical society of America. He presented their research yesterday during the sixth joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Acoustical Society of Japan in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The team used a supercomputer to run large measurements of aerocaustics. Aeroacoustics is the study of sound created by airflow and its effects. Measurements allow researchers to visualize and study the movement of air and around the canal to create sound-energy with compressed air and circulate with about 320,000 changes per minute.
“Our research has shown that just making a quiet drive is not enough to make the noise unpleasant,” said Yamada. “What’s really important is improving its sound quality.”
The children became worse
Yamada and his colleagues also investigated the psychological effect of drill noise on children and adults (think about volunteering to listen to more dental drills than you already have to!). The sound of the Drillmarish Dillmarmarish can reach about 20 kilohertz, and it has been shown that young people perceive the sound to be much louder than adults.
“This shows that children’s fear of teething noises is not only psychological but also physical in nature,” explains Yamada. “Children truly experience this feeling in a different way, so their fear of dental treatment is a real psychological response, not just an imagination.” In other words, your children have a reason to pretend to be sick on the day of the dental visit.
Within this context, the team is trying to improve the geometry of the blade and the driver’s exhaust hole to reduce noise while protecting performance. They will have to strike the right balance between performance and safety to get the dental industry on board, because silent drilling is not a viable option.
“Moving forward, we hope that you will work with dental manufacturers through educational partnerships, and progress towards commercialization after completing the necessary tests and the required rigor,” said Yamada.
Here’s hoping you don’t wear earplugs blasting rock music at the dentist again!
