Scalers are essential tools in every practice and have been since the dawn of modern dentistry. Yet there’s always room for improvement. Hu-Friedy designed its EverEdge 2.0 with today’s dentists in mind, including a sharper point, greater durability, and more clinician comfort.
Along with several manufacturing intricacies in its proprietary process, Hu-Friedy uses a new, optimized heat control process to maintain the EverEdge 2.0’s hard, sharp edge as well as its durability for effective procedures and continued use.
“When you heat-treat a steel alloy, it’s really like baking a cake or cookie, where you have to bake it at the right temperature. You have to bake it at the right length of time to ensure that your final product is good,” said Al Schenk, senior product manager at Hu-Friedy.
“We’ve invested a lot of time, money, and research into finding the right equipment,” Schenk said. “So we use a very sophisticated piece of equipment called a vacuum furnace, and that allows us to really finely tune and optimize the hardness of that steel.”
Hu-Friedy’s artisans have crafted edges that are scientifically measured to be 72% sharper than the scalers from 4 competitors out of the box. As a result, not as much force is necessary for scaling, which means an easier procedure for dentists and more comfort for patients.
“The finishing process is all about controlling the heat. When you start to sharpen steel, you don’t want to see sparks. You don’t want to see your edge heat up, because once your edge is heat-treated and it’s hard, when you put it on the belt again to sharpen it, it will soften,” Schenk said.
CATRA, a specialized blade laboratory, performed independent testing by repeatedly pushing each scaler’s blade into a specially calibrated silicone test strip. The amount of force required to push the blade into the strip was measured in Newtons. Each blade was subjected to multiple strokes on the strip to measure wear as well.
“A sharp instrument will increase patient comfort,” said Schenk. “It decreases physician fatigue. It will ensure that we don’t leave behind any of those residual calculus deposits that are in the subgingival area. The sharpness increases the tactile feedback and will allow the clinician to feel the calculus they can’t see.”
The EverEdge 2.0 preserves its predecessors’ diamond knurl metal handle for a confident and comfortable grip. It also can be ordered with various Resin 8 colors handles, which help users identify scalers and curettes that correspond to different areas of the mouth.
And when the EverEdge 2.0 does start to show some wear, it can be sharpened again to its factory edge. Plus, due to the company’s finishing process, burs do not form on the blade either. That’s essential to safety, as burs can dull the blade until it eventually breaks.
For more information, visit hu-friedy.com/EE2.
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