Patient Burns from Electric Dental Handpieces

The FDA issued a warning on December 13, 2007 regarding serious patient injuries, including third degree burns associated with the use of poorly maintained electrical dental handpieces during dental procedures. The alert followed the release of a Public Health Notification issued December 12 directed at dental health professionals warning of the potential for patient injury.

Electric Handpieces Do Not Alert Users to Maintenance Issues

A poorly maintained electric handpiece does not provide a warning to the dental practitioner when maintenance is needed. Unlike an air-driven handpiece, which will perform sluggishly when maintenance is required, when an electric handpiece is worn or clogged, the electric motor sends increased power to the handpiece head or attachment in order to maintain performance, rapidly generating heat at the head of the handpiece attachment, resulting in overheating and burns to the patient.

The burns reported to the FDA have occurred during cutting of tooth and bone, tooth extraction, and other dental surgical procedures. But according to the FDA, overheating could occur during any dental procedure. Because the patient is anesthetized during these procedures, and the handpiece housing insulates the operator from the heated attachment, burns may not be apparent until after the tissue damage has occurred. Some patients had third degree burns which required plastic surgery.

Patient Injuries Not Limited to Dentistry

In the July 2003 edition of FDA Patient Safety News, the FDA reported patient burns associated with the use of rotary surgical handpieces during orthopedic procedures. Rotary handpieces are used in a variety of orthopedic and general surgical procedures to cut, shape or drill tissue. Lack of preventative maintenance and poorly lubricated bearings were to blame for incidences of overheating which caused severe injuries and burns to patients and medical personnel using the devices.