Air Abrasion fillings irritate & bite problems - Dental Health Message Board

antoni · 09-07-2004, 03:55 PM

I just was wondering, I haven't posted in a while -- how many of you out there have had air abrasion "drill-less" dentistry done on early dental caries.

My nightmare of 3 years ago has not ended as the dentist that I paid alot of $$$$ to correct my bite from the imprecise way that the air abrasion machine cut my teeth(wide and flat) is insisting that I sign a release before he gives me any money back. He was paid alot of $$$ to restore my teeth to the way they were before the air abrasion(but this was not possible as the way the air abrasion cuts teeth wide & flat noone knows what the natural teeth's contours are to restore). The cusps on all my rear molars no longer fit together properly as the air abrasion cutting method reduced my cusps and removed healthy tooth structure unnecessarily.

After speaking with several dentists, they mention that they don't like air abrasion because it's messy, it's hard to control, and the dentist can't see what he's cutting. It's disgusting how this machine was FDA approved when it was rejected in the 1940-s and 1950's for being no good. I'm here to say from personal experience it still is no good.

In my case one of my second molars had the whole side of the tooth shaved down(the cusp). Unfortunately, I went to a really bad restorative dentist that made my bite much worse. Every day for the past three years I experience jaw pain and discomfort from all my rear molars "not fitting" each other properly.

I can't understand why they brought this machine back as it was prevented from being used in the 1940's and 1950's because it had so many problems associated with it.

I'm here as a victim to warn others it cuts differently from a regular drill and can make teeth mishapen. Then the dentist just blames the patient and says you are too sensitive.

Again if someone mentions air abrasion I would have run the other way.

But it has been 3 years and I'm wondering if more people have had their teeth filled by this method.

DFC · 09-07-2004, 07:15 PM

As far as I'm aware, a lot depends on the actual air abrasion unit. There are lots of different models and makes, a small number of which have fared pretty poorly in tests (in relation to cutting precision).

dabner · 09-21-2004, 07:21 PM

The reason air abrasion was not used in the 40's and 50's was not because it was bad or inneffective. It's use was discontinued because microabrasion cannot under cut a tooth to properly retain an amalgam filling, which was the only type of filling available at the time. The high speed drill was used because it could make an undercut. I have had a lot of experience with microabrasion (myself and my child) and have found it to be a pleasant experience with good results. I am sorry that your experience was so awful, but it sounds like it was an "end user" problem, not neccessarily a problem with the procedure in itself.