If Your Dental Drill Needs Repairs, Your Patients Will Thank You for Acting Swiftly
Running a dental practice isn’t cheap—there are overheads, equipment costs, medicines to be restocked, and of course, regular repairs and maintenance. The handpiece repair industry exists to fill the needs of dentists when they find that their most valuable tool, commonly called the dental drill, has faltered and needs repair. This isn’t a rare occurrence, either—no matter how well your handpiece is made, you are frequently subjecting it to intense operating conditions. Parts will wear down, things will break, and maintenance will become necessary—it’s just a matter of when. And the order of the day is emphasizing just how important that “when” is.
The main components of the handpiece—the turbine, which causes it to spin, and the bur, which is the business end—are the most common culprits for maintenance, repair, replacement, and more, since they see the most action. As they begin to wear out, you may notice that the operation of the drill is becoming less and less efficient. You want to avoid letting this go on for too long for a few very good reasons. The first, is that without an appropriate dental drill repair service, the tools that you rely on slowly become less capable of doing the job that they were designed to do, which in turn makes it harder for you, as a dentist, to do your job efficiently.
The second major reason not to delay handpiece repair is safety. A faulty, malfunctioning, or otherwise damaged handpiece can potentially cause injury to patients. There is a tendency amongst some people that may simply be an unfortunate aspect of human nature—an encouraging voice in the back of the head that seems to say, “Oh, don’t worry, it may seem like it’s beginning to wear out, but you can definitely coax a little bit more use out of it before you send it away to be serviced.” And it is incredibly important that you do not listen to that voice, because that is how accidents that should have been avoidable happen. Instead, have your drill serviced by a professional at the first sign of trouble, and everyone will be a little safer because you did.
Of course, if you want to reduce the frequency—and therefore long-term costs—of dental drill repair, there are things you can do that don’t involve putting it off. By being vigilant about the care you take of each handpiece, you can extend its lifecycle and reduce the rate of wear.
This means reading and following the user manual, following best sterilization practices, and always lubricating (or not lubricating) properly. For best results, take great care of your equipment—and never put off handpiece repair.
