The power of bubbles
Posted on August 30
Hello again, I hope you are well and enjoying your summer.
My wife and I have just had another great time at a music festival in Sledmere just up from Driffield. Fantastic music, great atmosphere and great to meet up with friends.
All ages, almost all genres of music, new and old. A real tonic. I think it was the 11th time for us. Everybody needs to let their hair down once in a while, although mine is disappearing at good rate of knots now.
We use an Er:YAG laser to create bubbles. The bubbles grow then collapse or implode in a short amount of time to create shock waves. This is called Photon Initiated Photoacoustic Streaming.
This has now advanced with the development of a double bubble technique whereby a second bubble is created as the first bubble is in its final stage of collapse to create a double shockwave to create shear stresses. This is a very effective and efficient way to get a solution to clean a surface of a canal or socket.
We use the method in root canal therapy and sometimes to disinfect a deep cavity. It is very useful in cleaning out and disinfecting infected tooth sockets too. Think of the little bubbles as scrubbing and cleaning away debris and bacterial biofilm build up.