Pulp Research and the High-Speed Drill

As inventors devised ever-faster dental drills, concerns grew about damage to dental pulp. In the mid-1950s, NIDR scientists Harold Stanley and Herbert Swerdlow evaluated different tools, speeds, and coolants and set guidelines enabling widespread adoption of high-speed drills. This "applied" research effort made NIDR a leader in studies of the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues in the dental pulp.