Method for Measuring Temperature Changes in the Tooth during Restorative Procedures

¹ Department of Operative Dentistry University of Oregon Dental School, Portland, Oregon

Methods of instrumentation and specimen handling that allow standardization of procedures and controlled evaluation of important variables in temperature production and detection within extracted or synthetic teeth have been developed and tested.

Data presented in this report suggest that reproducible seating of a 28-gauge thermocouple in a clean dental bur hole within teeth can be accomplished if some care in placement is exercised. The addition of a small droplet of mercury into this repository prior to thermocouple placement offers minimal irregularities in the contact of thermocouple and dentin, as well as a measure of increased validity of temperature measurement.

A method for orienting the thermal detector and the heating source in relation to the tooth specimen has been outlined. This procedure allows accurate measurement of the remaining dentin separating heat source and thermal detector without destroying the specimen.

Instrumentation that makes possible the determination of magnitude, character, and frequency of horizontally and vertically applied cutting loads to the tooth concomitant with temperature detection and recording has been described.