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You know you’ve got a good piece of kit if you don’t have to think about it – it just works

This article was first published March 2018

An oral surgeon cannot afford for their equipment to fail. So says Dr Craig Mallorie, Dental Surgeon, South Wales Oral Surgery, as he explains why he turned to NSK’s ISD900 Cordless Screwdriver and SurgicPro Oral Surgery Micromotor System to give him complete confidence when placing implants and restorations

Oral surgery can be an extremely rewarding discipline as long as you have the right equipment and good-quality materials to work with. I learnt this early on in my career when I and a colleague spent over two hours trying to extract the fragment of a snapped screw which was embedded inside the implant of one of my patients. The calibrated handpiece torque wrench I was using had over-tightened the screw and it snapped on fitting the crown. If we hadn’t managed to extract the fragment, I would have had to remove the whole implant – which neither I nor my poor patient wanted.

Finding the right equipment

NSK Surgic Pro

That was an extreme case, but it was experiences with sub-standard calibrated torque wrenches and also the hand torque wrenches you normally get with your surgical kit that convinced me that I needed to find a better alternative. I had learnt the lesson that I needed to surround myself with equipment I could trust.

When it came to a replacement to the torque wrenches I had previously been using, and after some research into the available options, I settled on NSK’s ISD900 Cordless Screwdriver, and I have never for one second regretted that decision.

ISD900 Cordless Screwdriver

Dependable: it is crucial to be able to trust your equipment; the NSK ISD900 Cordless Screwdriver is calibrated and you can recalibrate it every time you use it if you wish, which means I can trust the torque value it is showing me and know that it will tighten the screw to the correct value.

Versatile: I have been using this screwdriver for about six years now, and I know I can restore any implant system with it. This is very important for my practice as I receive many referrals of patients who have had implants placed elsewhere with different systems, and I know that my ISD900 will be able to cope with any of them.

Easy to use: from an ergonomic point of view it helps enormously with access to posterior teeth. With the screwdriver in place and the torque value set, I can press the button and it will tighten the screw to the correct value – no stress and so much more comfortable for the patient. I can also use it single-handedly and hold the crown I’m placing in the other hand which is a big advantage.

Faster and cost-effective: because I have confidence that the screw that is holding the implant has been tightened to the correct value, I place the restoration on top straight away, instead of asking the patient to return a week later. It means spending a lot less time in the patient’s mouth and all I need is a range of prosthetic screws to go with different implant systems to be able to use the ISD900 for everything. When you think it’s about £5-600 to buy a torque wrench for each implant system, it soon adds up. To have one screwdriver that can adapt to them all saves money in the long run. And in my opinion, if you have avoided a fractured screw for only one patient, it’s already paid for itself!

Suitable for in-surgery use: in a surgical procedure, such as when I’m placing a multi-unit abutment, I can still use the ISD900 by placing a surgical wrap over the electronic unit to make it sterile. This makes surgery much easier and quicker which is of benefit to me and my patient. I just set the correct torque for the implant, seal it and then press that button. It’s very dependable and I’ve not had any screws come loose in the six years I’ve been using it.

When I lecture about restoring implants, I always advocate using the ISD900 Cordless Screwdriver. Sometimes I let my students borrow mine for a case – and that’s usually all it takes to convince them.

NSK SurgicPro Oral Surgery Micromotor System

It’s a similar story with my SurgicPro Oral Surgery Micromotor System, which I have been using since 2010. It has never failed or malfunctioned and I find it a very dependable and hard-working piece of kit. It’s extremely well thought out and put together, both the handpieces and the unit itself.

Streamlined and well-balanced: it has a sleek, streamlined design with simple tubing connections and no over-complications, making use and maintenance straightforward. It has great, dependable torque which means I can put total trust in it, just like the ISD900 screwdriver.

Sophisticated: its streamlined body belies the sophistication and versatility it contains. I have a choice of nine settings which allow me to switch swiftly between the different implant systems I use. You can easily tailor the speed and torque to the job in hand and the type of handpiece you’re using and it just works. I like to play around with the settings to get them just right and then they are there ready for me to use. During treatment, I use the foot pedal to go from programme to programme which minimises fuss and enables me to work efficiently. I frequently change the torque setting that I place on the implant depending on the quality of the bone or other factors so it’s essential to have that versatility.

A wide range of handpieces: I also choose to use NSK handpieces as there is a great variety to choose from, they all work nicely and are well-conceived, like the SurgicPro. I don’t experience any heating up in NSK handpieces either, as I have with those of other manufacturers.

Linkable with NSK VarioSurg: linking the SurgicPro and VarioSurg Ultrasonic Bone Surgery System together with the one foot pedal is fantastic in terms of further streamlining my workflow and also saving space in the surgical area, which it’s very important to keep uncluttered and clean.

Equipment you can trust

I can put my complete trust in my NSK equipment and I have my own set which I take with me from surgery to surgery.

My early experiences with lower-quality equipment taught me that it’s impossible to be confident in the work you’re doing if you’re constantly worried that your equipment is going to fail, or you have to spend too much time fiddling around with the settings. And there is absolutely nothing more stressful than your equipment letting you down in the middle of surgery.

I haven’t regretted my move over to NSK instruments for one moment. It feels like I’m working with a high-quality manufacturer who put a lot of research and development into what they do, and who will still be around in 20 years’ time. I’d rather pay a little bit more for my equipment and work with a company that is dependable, manufactures high-quality equipment and gives good support. And this is what I tell any colleagues who are setting up in oral surgery and the students I teach. You shouldn’t be worrying about your equipment, in fact, it shouldn’t be on your mind at all: you know you’ve got a good piece of kit if you don’t have to think about it – it just works.

For more information on NSK’s product range or to request a 10-day free equipment trial visit www.trynsk.co.uk or contact NSK on 0800 634 1909, visit www.nsk-uk.com or contact your preferred dental dealer.

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Dr Craig Mallorie

Dr Craig MallorieCurrently based at 90 Harley Street, Dr Mallorie has worked in private practice in Cardiff, London and Melbourne. He has also held posts as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Senior House Officer in Wales for a number of years.

Dr Mallorie is a published academic who has presented / lectured in China, The Netherlands, U.S., U.K. and Australia. As an undergraduate he received the Oral Surgery Prize after which he went on to complete further examinations with the Royal College of Surgeons. Whilst completing a Master Implant Clinician Program through the University of California he finished as Top Clinician amongst the 150 International participants

*Specifications are subject to change without notice.
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