Dr. Mark Caggiano introduced micro abrasive dentistry in Seattle 15 years ago. Micro Abrasive dentistry for restoration preparation involves removal of the tooth structure with a stream of aluminium oxide particles generated from compressed air. Dr. Caggiano states that air abrasion is an extremely efficient tool in terms of identifying pit and fissure caries. It can be used to remove the organic debris and check if caries is present. The main benefit of micro abrasive dentistry is that Dr. Caggiano is able to do fillings without using any anaesthetic. It likewise makes visiting dental office a delightful experience for patients.

Dr. Mark Caggiano, D.D.S
Micro abrasive dentistry, for example, is something we started doing about almost 15 years ago. What it allows us to do is work on a tooth that’s never had a filling before but that has a cavity, to clean out that cavity and to seal it out properly without using any anaesthetic. Lot of times children have sealants placed they can be placed over active cavity or decaying side of the tooth. So we have this diagnodent, which is an infra-red light which looks inside of a tooth to detect if there is any decay in there. If there is we use the micro abrasion to, actually it’s abrasive air that blows out the cavity. And then we can seal it with a tooth colored flowable filling. So we actively have removed the decay and reduced that risk of the tooth decaying over the lifetime of the tooth. Having for children and adults that have this procedure done, it’s amazing. I always, after we complete the procedure, I’ll say to the person, hey now you can go back to work or you can go back to school and tell your friends, you had three filling done without any anaesthetic and they’ll look at me like, yeah, I did. You know, it’s kind of a, it’s, the win-win experience in dentistry, building positive experiences, making people realize that it doesn’t have to be so bad to go to a dental office.