ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of air abrasion tips and system operation modes on enamel cutting. METHODS: Forty bovine teeth were abraded with the air abrasion system Mach 4.1 for 10 and 15 seconds, employing conventional and sonic tips of 0.45-mm inner diameter and a 90° angle, and 27.5-µm aluminum oxide at 5.51 bar air pressure in continuous and pulsed modes. The width and depth of the resulting cuts were measured in SEM. RESULTS: The multivariate analysis of variances revealed that, compared to the sonic tip, the conventional tip produced shallower cuts independent of the operation mode and the application period. CONCLUSIONS: The cutting patterns observed in this study suggest that the pulsed mode produced deeper cuts when both the conventional and sonic tips were used, and that the sonic tip cut more dental tissue than the conventional one.