Bien Air Closer Look

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Nova

Bien-Air’s Nova is designed to overcome the challenges of a traditional handpiece. The small head and slim handle enhance field of vision and guarantee easier access to the back of the mouth. With the Accu-Spray Quattro Mix system, it focuses 4 asymmetrical air/water sprays on the end of the bur with laser precision. It is the lightest handpiece in the company’s range, yet built to last.

Bien-Air
800-433-BIEN • dental.bienair.com

John Flucke, DDS, is in private practice in Lee’s Summit, Mo. He also serves as chief clinical editor and technology editor for Dental Products Report® and keeps an active blog filled with thoughts and tidbits on the world of technology at blog.denticle.com.

I was incredibly lucky with my introduction to the Bien Air Nova handpiece. I got a chance to get my hands on one about three months before they were on the market. The folks at Bien Air asked me to give the Nova a try and to use it in a variety of applications. They wanted to make sure it performed as well in clinical applications as it had in their testing. As regular readers know, I love testing things and I tried the Nova on every case I could.

Bien Air has made outstanding handpieces for decades, but they wanted to redesign their highspeed from the ground up… and they succeeded. The Nova has a significantly smaller head and a slim handle. It is easy to grip and the small head improves visibility in all areas of the mouth. I had the female doctor in the office give it a try and she loved how it fit in her hand… and she has small hands. One of the things that handpieces lack is a grip that allows ease of use for any size hands and Bien Air has definitely solved that problem.

The small head also has a 4-port air water spray that Bien Air calls the Accu-Spray Quattro Mix system. The ports focus an asymmetrical air/water spray directly on the bur. This means more coolant where you need it while also keeping the bur free of debris build-up. That equates to more efficient preparation while also keeping both the bur and, more importantly, the tooth cool during procedures.

Cool temperatures are also critical in the area of the chuck’s push button. Bien Air has created the Cool Touch+ system into that button. This ceramic button provides thermal insulation to keep the button cool to the touch. This is an enhancement for patient safety during treatment.

Another nice patient safety feature is the anti-retraction valve that is built into the Nova. The device also has a sealed head. Both of these advancements work to greatly reduce the possibility of aspiration of oral fluids into the handpiece.

The chuck system uses a special PVD coating which improves the opening and closing of the push button chuck and extends its life by 30%. The performance of the chuck is pretty amazing, but the gears are even more impressive. The Nova uses gears made from Cylkro® which is the same material in the transmissions of Formula One racing cars. This paired system of chuck and gears give the Nova amazing performance. One of the most difficult things we are currently faced with as clinicians is cutting through zirconia. The Nova handles this with incredible ease. I intentionally used my test Nova on every zirconia crown removal and endo access for over two months with impressive results.

In closing this, I’d like to tell you the story of the Nova’s durability. In addition to using the device on every zirconia removal and endo access, I put it into my regular handpiece rotation. That allowed me to routinely use it for a variety of applications. Recently I had to send the Nova into Bien Air for service. Note that I said recently.It was the first repair the Nova needed in over four years of everyday use. While I can’t say that every Nova would show that much durability, the fact that even one handpiece survived that long in my hands is the best endorsement I can give. The Bien Air Nova is flat out amazing!