Undergraduate student Helene Chua was chosen for an Otago Medical Research Foundation summer studentship to carry out her research on the cooling efficiency of different high-speed dental coolant point designs.
Her research, now being peer-reviewed for an international journal, could save dentists thousands of dollars.
Associate Prof Neil Waddell, of the university's department of oral rehabilitation, said dentists used ''phenomenally high-speed'' dental drills with diamond burrs to cut decay that could cause friction to the tooth, producing heat and potentially causing nerve damage.
To prevent the patient's tooth from overheating water jets were used - and a dental handpiece could have two, three or four water jets.
While having water to cool the burr was vital, the more water there was, the less comfortable things became - and the more suction had to be used to control the procedure.
The price varied, and the typical cost of a one-port high-speed dental handpiece was about $800, whereas a four-port high-speed handpiece was about $1800.
While dental equipment companies claimed the more coolant points there were, the more effective the process was, Ms Chua's research showed there was not much difference in efficiency using four points compared with one.
''We tried using three different designs with three different numbers of coolant points,'' Ms Chua said.
''We conducted the cutting [on extracted teeth] using three different designs and we measured the temperature change.
''There was no big statistical difference in cooling efficiency.''
Finding out what made an efficient handpiece would have benefits for patients in terms of comfort, as well as guiding dentists on what design to buy, Prof Waddell said.
