VDW EDDY® Tips (10)

VDW EDDY® · sonic powered irrigation tip

Cavitation and acoustic streaming, from an air scaler

EDDY® is a soft polyamide tip driven at 5,000 to 6,000 Hz by an air scaler you may already own, and its three-dimensional oscillation produces the two effects that do the cleaning – cavitation and acoustic streaming – which until EDDY were associated with passive ultrasonic irrigation. No ultrasonic unit, and no metal tip against the dentine.

This pack: VDW EDDY® Sonic Powered Irrigation Tips · 5 blister packs of 2 (10 tips) · sterile · single use · mfr REF 1441 000 000 · made by VDW, Munich

Key features

›  One size for every canal. A single instrument size covers all canal anatomies – nothing to gauge, nothing to select.

›  Polyamide, not metal. The flexible polymer tip is gentle on dentine and carries a low risk of fatigue fracture.

›  Works with an air scaler you may already have. No ultrasonic generator and no extra equipment if a compatible handpiece is in the surgery.

The air scaler vibrates the tip; the polyamide turns that into a high-amplitude, three-dimensional movement in the irrigant.

VDW describe it as gas bubbles forming and imploding in the irrigant (cavitation), and high-frequency oscillation creating swirling eddies that strengthen the cleaning effect on the canal walls (acoustic streaming). EDDY product brochure VW000377.

The evidence

Neuhaus, Liebi, Stauffacher, Eick and Lussi tested a 6,000 Hz sonic irrigation device against passive ultrasonic and manual irrigation in two laboratory infection models (Journal of Endodontics, 2016;42:1799–1803). Instruments were supplied by VDW. Against the negative control, colony counts fell by about 3 log10 units for the sonic device, 2 for passive ultrasonic and 1 for manual irrigation.

Two caveats worth keeping: it is an in vitro study, and the irrigant was saline, chosen to isolate the mechanical effect rather than to represent a clinical protocol.

Specification

Which air scaler does it fit?

EDDY® screws into an air scaler handpiece, not an ultrasonic unit. VDW list the W&H Proxeo ZA-55, NSK Ti-Max S970 and KaVo SONICflex 2003 as compatible. If yours is not on that list, ask us before ordering – the thread and the drive frequency have to match.

Questions

Is this the same as ultrasonic activation? The physics it relies on is the same – cavitation and acoustic streaming – but the drive is sonic, from an air scaler, and the tip is polymer rather than metal. VDW position it as an alternative to passive ultrasonic irrigation, not an addition to it.

Will it cut the canal wall? The tip is polyamide and non-cutting, which is the point of the material. It still needs a canal prepared to at least ISO 25/.06 for the tip to move freely.

Complete the case

Downloads

›  VDW EDDY® product brochure (PDF, 2.0 MB, VDW) – how sonic activation works, the full specification and the compatible air scalers.

VDW EDDY® · sonic powered irrigation tip · polyamide · 0.2 mm tip, 28 mm · 5,000–6,000 Hz via air scaler · minimum preparation ISO 25/.06 · sterile, single use · 5 blisters of 2 · made by VDW GmbH, Munich.