Comparison of root surface roughness produced by air polishing combined with hand instrumentation or ultrasonic instrumentation: an in vitro study.

The aim of this study was to examine the surface roughness produced by root debridement during periodontal maintenance therapy. The root surface roughness produced by hand scaling and subsequent glycine powder air polishing (GPAP) was compared with that produced by ultrasonic scaling and subsequent GPAP. Fifty extracted incisor and premolar teeth were collected and randomly allocated to the following 5 groups (n = 10 per group): 1, hand scaling followed by GPAP; 2, ultrasonic scaling followed by GPAP; 3, hand scaling alone; 4, ultrasonic scaling alone; and 5, no treatment. After the initial scaling procedure, specimens in groups 1 and 2 were incubated at 37°C for 3 days. The specimens then underwent GPAP for 5 seconds. All specimens were examined under a profilometer, and the root surface roughness was measured in micrometers. The specimens in groups 1 (hand scaling with GPAP) and 2 (ultrasonic scaling with GPAP) were studied in detail under a scanning electron microscope. The different protocols produced the following mean root surface roughness values: group 1, 2.31 µm; group 2, 4.33 µm; group 3, 5.84 µm; group 4, 6.32 µm; and group 5, 9.20 µm. The difference between groups 1 and 2 was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In this in vitro study, hand scaling with curettes produced smoother root surfaces than ultrasonic scaling. Adjunctive use of GPAP for 5 seconds along with hand scaling or ultrasonic scaling resulted in improved root surface smoothness during periodontal maintenance therapy.