You’re Probably Using Your Ultrasonic Wrong – PDP288

Do you really need your ultrasonic on 100%? (Probably not — and it may be costing you precision.)

Which part of the tip should actually be touching the tooth — and is that why the hygienists keep complaining about blunt tips?

Could the scaler tip you already own refine your margins, find a calcified canal and cut gutta-percha like a hot knife through butter?

And if you’re in the market for a new unit, which features are actually worth paying for?

Every dentist uses an ultrasonic — but most of us use it as a perio tool and nothing more. In this episode, Dr Hussain Hassanali, a general dentist who has gone properly geeky on ultrasonics, walks through how they really remove tooth tissue and how to put them to work in restorative dentistry and endo. It’s foundational, practical, and full of things you can try at your next session. Jaz’s biggest takeaway? Stop whacking the power up to 100%.

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Trim Gutta-Percha With Your Scaler Tip

You’ve just obturated a canal and need to remove the excess gutta-percha. The old ways: heat a ball burnisher in the flame until it glows red (that smell, and the GP smearing everywhere — or lifting out entirely because the sealer hasn’t set), or sink a long-neck bur into the GP while it spins and hope you don’t gouge the dentine.

Instead, take your bog-standard ultrasonic scaler tip, turn the water off, and set the power to around 10%. Sweep it across the orifice and it cuts through gutta-percha like a hot knife through butter — the water is off because here you want the heat. Then drop the power right down (around 2%) and gently compact the coronal GP, leaving roughly 1–1.5 mm of space for your restorative material to lock into the orifice. No flame, no burn risk, and a thin tip that doesn’t block your view. Try it once and you won’t go back to heated pluggers.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

• The three rules of the ultrasonic — why it abrades rather than cuts, why the side of the tip beats the pointed end, and why power is a dial, not a switch.
• A settings guide by task — where to start for enamel margins, fissures, soft dentine, endo access and gutta-percha.
• Standard tip or specialist tip? — when the tip you already own is enough, and when diamond-coated tips earn their place.
• Water on or water off? — the two endo jobs where the water has to go off.
• Buying an ultrasonic — piezo versus magnetostrictive, and the one feature that changes patient comfort.

Highlights of This Episode

• 00:00 TEASER
• 00:59 Ultrasonic Scaler Tips Every Dentist Should Know
• 04:30 Why Ultrasonics Are Underused in General Dentistry
• 07:08 What Power Setting to Use When Cleaning Enamel Margins
• 09:28 Which Part of the Ultrasonic Tip Should You Use?
• 11:34 Ultrasonic Power Settings for Occlusal Fissures
• 13:47 Piezoelectric vs Magnetostrictive Scalers: Does It Matter?
• 21:37 Ultrasonics for PRRs, Fissure Sealants and Anxious Children
• 28:36 Selective Caries Removal With an Ultrasonic
• 30:42 Refining Crown and Onlay Margins With Ultrasonic Tips
• 39:02 Ultrasonics in Endo: Irrigant Activation and Finding Canals
• 45:35 How to Trim Gutta-Percha With an Ultrasonic
• 51:37 The Most Common Ultrasonic Mistake: Too Much Power
• 54:29 What to Look for When Buying an Ultrasonic Scaler
• 57:39 Are Ultrasonic Scalers Safe With Pacemakers?
• 1:00:55 Cementing Onlays With Heated Composite: Do Ultrasonic Tips Help?
• 01:09:01 OUTRO

From the Guest

Dr Hussein Hassanali is a dentist at Thorpe Dental Group and Implant Suite in York. He qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2009, completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry in 2020, and is particularly passionate about preventative and minimally invasive dentistry — which is what led him down the ultrasonics rabbit hole. He is happy to answer specific questions, and he’s open to building a hands-on course if there’s demand.

👉  Dr Hussein Hassanali at Thorpe Dental Group, York

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: No More Air Polishing or Prophy Paste! Revolutionary New Technique for Non Mechanical Prophylaxis – PDP284

Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorative

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

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This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 250 Operative (Restorative) Dentistry.

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To broaden dental practitioners’ use of the ultrasonic scaler beyond periodontal debridement, by explaining how ultrasonic instruments remove tooth tissue and how to apply them precisely and safely in restorative and endodontic procedures.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

1. Describe how ultrasonic instruments remove tooth tissue by abrasion, and explain what this means for selective removal, tip orientation and power setting.
2. Apply appropriate power, water and tip choices to restorative uses of the ultrasonic, including margin finishing, fissure preparation for preventive resin restorations and selective caries removal.
3. Use ultrasonics safely in endodontics — for irrigant activation, canal location, scouting and gutta-percha trimming — and identify precautions for patients with cardiac implantable devices.