Dr. Habitzl, you have been using EMS devices for a long time and were now able to personally test the new Air Flow Prophylaxis Master. What were your experiences as a “patient”?

Dr. Habitzl: “I wanted to know where the differences are compared to my old devices. And I have to say that the results are clearly better: The new device brings with it significant pain relief – in fact, the treatment is virtually painless. We have received the same feedback from our patients too. The crucial aspect is the warm water that is now brought up to body temperature, which makes the treatment much more comfortable – in supra as well as subgingival areas.”

Ms. Bobbi: “One patient said to me that it feels like a massage. And that really hits it on the head – the use of the powder jet suddenly becomes very pleasant.”

Ms. Jasmina: “Particularly when it comes to exposed tooth necks, patients are now very happy that they can be treated without pain”

EMS uses a special vibration method for the ultrasound handpiece, which reduces pain (No Pain). What are your experiences with that?

Dr. Habitzl: “Here too, I felt no pain. The ultrasound is also very pleasant when it is used.”

Ms. Bobbi: “And that was also confirmed by our patients. I asked all patients about that, and they all had very positive things to say.”

According to EMS, the GBT (Guided Biofilm Therapy) allows – or better requires – you to dispense with the use of curettes or polishing pastes when using the new Air Flow Prophylaxis Master, as these can damage the tooth substance. Can you implement that in daily practice?

Ms. Jasmina: “Pretty much yes. My colleague and I often take part in trainings and were thus able to get to know GBT. We use it today and are able to achieve very nice sub-gingival as well as supra-gingival results – and in an amazingly gentle way with Air Flow Powder Plus. Only in the case of heavy smokers do we occasionally have to switch to the Classic powder. That is very simple to do thanks to the two powder containers of the device. It is striking that we achieve much more thorough and more accurate results in interdental areas with the powder compared to pastes.”

Ms. Bobbi: “We also asked our patients for their impressions. Interestingly, some patients want a finish with the polishing paste. I guess they are used to that from before and think that such a final step is necessary. This is where we have to explain that the final polish with Air Flow has already been done.”

Dr. Habitzl: “I also did not get the feeling that polishing with polishing paste was necessary. The tooth surfaces feel very smooth. What is particularly important to me is the substance-friendly treatment – which also includes the curettage, which we can largely do without. Only with heavy perio cases is it occasionally required.”

EMS also promised improvements in terms of handling and care. What is the situation here?

Ms. Bobbi: “The new powder chamber is a clear improvement. The larger capacity, easy filling and easy insertion into the device make the handling much easier. And the wireless foot control is simply great – finally no cable clutter anymore.”

Ms. Jasmina: “With the old powder system we always had problems with clogging. Sometimes it even had to be sent in for repair as we could not unclog it ourselves. It can already be said after only a short time of using the device that EMS has made considerable progress, as the air and water channels are cleaned separately.”

Ms. Bobbi: “The cleaning and hygiene are ingeniously simple: Fill in Night Cleaner, put both handpieces in the spittoon, press the foot pedal – the rest is taken care of by the unit fully automatically overnight.”

So a lot of positive aspects all round. Is there anything else, any criticism, perhaps?

Ms. Bobbi: “A medical device in Espresso design – but that’s no criticism. On the contrary: We and our patients like it.”

Dr. Habitzl: “Maybe the price – which could be a little lower.”

If you include the new features and improvements, is the price still too high?

Dr. Habitzl: “Well, of course we users love low prices. But to be fair – EMS is providing attractive value for money with the new device.”

The interview was conducted by Robert Simon for DENTAL JOURNAL and has been translated to English from German. For the original version please click on the link