Acquisition and Analysis of Endodontic Handpiece Vibration Signals

The root canal treatment is the popular method for disinfection of infected teeth. Root canal treatment involves cavity preparation (root canal shaping), filling and sealing. The endodontic handpiece with endodontic files are used for the shaping of the root canals. In this process, the endodontic files dislodge material from the internal wall of the root canal. Material dislodging causes root canal shaping forces and vibration. Excessive forces and vibration may increase the chances of iatrogenic error like the instrument separation, root tooth fracture and root perforation. These errors can be predicted and eliminated by assessment of the vibration signals of endodontic handpiece. Endodontic handpiece composed of several parts like motor, transmission system and endodontic files and generate vibrations at different frequencies. The accelerometer is used for the vibration signal acquisition of the handpiece. The vibration signal quality is associated with the position of the accelerometer on the endodontic handpiece. This study is determining the suitable position of the accelerometer endodontic handpieces, for the better signal acquisition. The entire handpiece is divided into the segments of equal length. Then eight signals for each segment are recorded. For each position of the accelerometer, the root mean square of signals is compared, in order to accrue signals of higher amplitude. In this study, it has been found out that the amplitude of vibration is significantly varied along the length of the handpiece. On the base of this study, a suitable location for the accelerometer has been found out.