New electric motor handpieces for the School of Dentistry

COVID-19 continues to have a huge impact on dental treatments across the UK.

Concern remains about the risk of transmitting the virus from procedures that create aerosols in the atmosphere known as Aerosol generating procedures or AGPS. While it has been possible to carry out these AGPs with full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in an enclosed dental surgery, unfortunately, Dental Schools have had to suspend this type of treatment in an open clinic and inevitably, this has limited the clinical experience for our dental students.
 
Recent research carried out by us here at Leeds and Kings College London has shown replacing air turbine handpieces with ones that use electric motors, controlled to a speed of 60,000 rpm under a water coolant, we can eliminate the generation of aerosols and mitigate the risk of viral spread. These new handpieces with high volume aspiration and together with the use of rubber dam, ensures we can keep both our patients and ourselves safe.
 
Leeds School of Dentistry is one of the first schools to fully equip all dental units with the new electric motors and installation has already begun. By the end of next week, we anticipate that all units in the Dental School and our Outreach Clinics will have been completed.

The School of Dentistry is committed to providing our patients with the full range of treatment safely on our teaching clinics and allow our students to gain the experience required to become safe beginners, ready to enter into the next stage of their training.