Lubrication Oil - It's all the same..right?

As in other industries there are different oils used for the lubrication, which obviously provide very different characteristics to cover different needs. The general term would be - the higher the speed & friction the cleaner the oil should be. As the velocity in dental handpieces is tremendously high it is absolutely vital to ensure reduce the friction through a high quality lubricate to eliminate abrasion as much as possible.

But what is the difference?

The most important factor is, that MK-dent (contrary to a lot of other manufacturers) is using only synthetic oil instead of mineral oil, which is far superior in terms of quality. The reason for it would be that mineral oil is an organic substance that needs to go through several filtration processes, however even most modern filtration can only remove larger particles so 30% of nanoparticles are left in the oil.

Ultimately this is hindering the oiling process. Synthetic oil instead is biochemically engineered to lubricate, therefore it provides a cleanness of 100%.

A study by the American Automobile Association executed a study on the performance of conventional/mineral and synthetic oil. This test was performed according to the norms of the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials). The most important test performed is the ASTM D6278 - Kurt Orbahn Shear Stability Test which proves the resistance of the oil against action of forces and material destruction by breaking or tearing.

The final result of this study showing, that synthetic oil outperforms conventional/mineral oil by 47% according to this study, which is equal to other studies performed by companies like Total, etc.. This may be found on page 44 of the report mentioned below:

AAA - Research Report Synthetic Oil vs. Conventional Mineral Oil