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Every Podiatrist has worked with a Dremel drill at some point. These drills work fine until a higher patient volume

is reached. The bulky handpieces do not permit a confident grip and secure control of the bur. Or you want to

use real medical looking equipment for a professional image that instils confidence in the patient. And quite often

the Podiatrist has had enough of that dust and wants a cleaner work environment for himself, his staff and for his

patients. All these factors come together when you decide to look for a better drill.

The following is an overview of what is available and is based on user comments we have received.

1. A stand-alone vacuum drill can be used that stands vertically on the floor with a flexible stiff metal hose that goes up and the nozzle is positioned above the patient's feet.		These stand-alone vacuums are noisy and the nozzle is never positioned right where it is needed and they do not pick up all of the dust. And they must be turned on and off separately. But they are cheap and better than nothing.

2. A Dremel drill can be fitted with an airflow nozzle with a corrugated hose to a canister type vacuum that stands on the floor.		These have better dust pick-up all around the bur, are still very noisy and bulky to handle and are failure prone. They can start the vacuum when the handpiece is started. The air coming out the bottom is very hot and can warp vinyl floor tiles.

3. A canister or floor vacuum is available with a more slender handpiece.		This allows better control of the bur and dust pickup is quite good. The vacuum starts when the handpiece is started but they are very noisy and do not have a professional medical appearance. The hoses to the handpiece are corrugated and failure prone. Some dust bags are small or HEPA filters are expensive to replace.

4. One table top unit comes with a corrugated hose and a bulky handpiece with quick-chuck. Many light duty drills today are marketed to podiatrists that are made for pedicures and manicures.		The handpiece has an aluminum appearance and the vacuum hose comes out the back of the handpiece. Air and dust go through the handpiece and clogs up around the motor mounting brackets. The tiny micromotor is not quite powerful enough to debride quickly and the quick-chuck is not reliable. Quite a few users complain that the bur works itself out of the chuck. These quick-chucks or slip chucks are not repairable and the bur is not supported with ball bearings right at the tip of the handpiece. Patients often complain of vibration. If you like working with a footswitch this may not be offered.

5. The Micro-Air table top model offers the following: 5' hose, footswitch, cleaning bur, replaceable dust bags, dust diverter caps. Optional Hi-Flow air nozzle and carrying bag with shoulder straps.		2 week trial period with money back guarantee, 3 years warranty including the handpiece and lifelong warranty on the hose to the handpiece. Hose can be made longer. Vacuum is all around the bur but not quite as strong as the canister types. It does have a Hi-Flow air nozzle option which is used by 5 % of our users. The Micro-Air is a lot more quiet and a sound dampening enclosure is available. The handpiece is all metal (no plastic) and dust is taken away from the micromotor. This is the best balanced handpiece with enough torque to debride quickly. You have excellent control of the bur and this permits you to safely use more aggressive burs. Especially users with smaller hands benefit from this. The medical appearance of the unit enhances the image of your clinic.

6. Something about cost - performance tradeoff.		A good drill will last about 10 years. If you purchase a drill and find out it is not quite right you will be stuck with it every day for 10 years. That is why it is essential that you try the drill on lots of patients with the option to return it. A drill costs about 3 to 4 pennies per patient. And if the better handpiece allows you to treat even 2 more patients a day then the drill is paid for in about 2 months. Concern for initial cost lasts about 2 months. How you feel about the use of the drill on a daily basis lasts 10 years. We understand issues regarding cash flow in a business. If that is of concern to you then you should mention that to your vendor. There are ways to assist you with that.

7. All drills will require service or repair at some point.		We have a 1 day turn-around in our shop. Not everyone can do that, so ask questions. Does the vendor perform their own repairs? Do they stock all parts? Will they send you a part or do you need to send the whole drill? Will the vendor repair an older unit for free if you purchase a new drill? And you can ask for references.

8. Vacuum drills remove absolutely all dust: this is not so.		No matter how strong a vacuum is, heavier particles can spin out from under a bur and escape the air flow. More so when a coarse bur spins at high speed. It is the fine dust that hangs in the air and gets behind your mask that is removed. The heavier particles are of little concern since these fall to the floor or into the tray on the chair. Now you can appreciate why a trial period with money back guarantee is so important.

Facts about water spray drills.

What is better: a vacuum drill or water spray drill?		The differences are huge and here is why.

1. The bur on a vacuum drill still gets hot if held in one spot or area. That means that you have to frequently move the bur to other treatment areas to let the heat dissipate.		The bur and patient tissue on a water spray drill are cooled by a mist spray of water and a bit of alcohol. You can treat an area and finish that treatment area and not have to remember to come back there. You need a more aggressive bur to debride wet tissue so that you are finished more quickly and the patients often comment that the treatment was painless. And this differentiates you from other clinics. Many patients will bring you referrals.

2. A vacuum drill picks up most of the airborne dust.		The water spray binds the debris with the water and this whitish paste dribbles down the patient's foot. At higher bur speeds some droplets fling off the bur and land on the floor or in the tray. At lower speeds or with a smaller diameter bur this is minimized. A water spray drill produces no airborne dust. If you are performing surgery in rooms that share the same air conditioning system in the facility then a water spray drill is superior.

3. Patient clean-up after a vacuum drill. Your assistant should wipe or brush the patient's feet clean while you are on to the next patient. It is just dry dust that needs to be wiped off.		Your assistant could put the patient's feet into a bowl of luke warm water or just wipe the feet clean with a towel while you are on to the next patient even earlier. It is quite common for a single podiatrist to treat 40 or more patients a day and still have happy patients. Water spray drills are the fastest modality.

4. Debriding rate: Sharp burs debride faster and produce more coarse dust. You can debride with high speed and a light touch or with more pressure on the bur at a lower speed.		If you like to work at lower speeds with more pressure on the bur then you may need the Anubis spray drill with torque booster. This is the only drill that adds power to the handpiece as you apply more force on the bur. The bur will not slow down.

5. Water spray drills have more problems?		Not really. Our drills use a long life air compressor and a simple spray system that is easily cleaned. Our water reservoirs have fixed tubing connections and don't use removable connectors. All spray drills will give you clogging of the spray nozzle if tap water is used. There are a few microcomputer controlled spray drills on the market that have me worried about their long term reliability. Always ask the vendor questions such as if the handpiece cable/tubing is easily extended or replaced or unclogged.

6. Some drills use plastic handpieces with quick-chuck. You only have to stick the bur in and the chuck grabs onto the bur by itself.		While it sounds good, these chucks do not accommodate bur stems with varying stem thickness very well. All podiatry burs are 3/32" thick but have slight tolerances in the actual thickness. The quick-chucks are a friction based chuck and this wears out with the result that burs are no longer gripped tight and can work themselves out of the chuck during a procedure. Chucks with a quarter turn lock will work with a wider range in stem thickness and do not wear out. Handpieces with Quarter Turn chucks also use bigger more robust ball bearings right at the front. These ball bearings last longer and are easily replaced.

7. Drills made for Podiatry or for pedicures. All vendors claim that their drills are suitable for foot care. But there is a big difference between heavy duty foot care and light duty pedicure treatments.		Manicure/Pedicure drills use light duty handpieces. In Podiatry the user applies more force on the bur in order to be time efficient. More aggressive debriding demands more torque and a more robust support of the bur. Unfortunately light duty drills look like they could stand up to the heavier use in footcare but after a few years the differences present themselves. If your patient base requires a lot of routine footcare then you depend on your drill. In that case a quality drill will live up to your expectations and do so for 10+ years.

In the end you get what you pay for. So, be well informed and ask bold questions of your vendors.		If you have read all the above you are very close to make an important decision. Click HERE to ask us what we can do for you. A good drill is a joy to use. And that is important.