Can You Use Air Polishing on Implants?

Delta Dental Institute's October 2025 *State of America's Oral Health and Wellness Report* gives the prophylaxis equipment conversation its missing data: how many patients actually avoid dental care due to anxiety, and what drives that anxiety. The headline numbers — **21% of adults have avoided dental care due to anxiety**, and **59% of those identify pain as the primary driver** — frame an equipment-investment thesis that goes well beyond cost-of-ownership models. Air polishing is repeatedly documented in peer-reviewed literature as more comfortable than conventional methods. The Delta Dental data turns that comfort advantage from a clinical preference into a measurable retention lever.

The Delta Dental data

Delta Dental Institute's 2025 State of America's Oral Health and Wellness Report (October 2025, US data) is the cleanest single citation for population-level US dental behaviour. The findings most relevant to prophylaxis:

Preventive visit frequency held steady. Among adults who visited the dentist in 2024, preventive visits remained at 84% (vs 83% in 2023). Unexpected visits declined for both adults and children year-over-year.

Dental anxiety is a measurable barrier. More than 1 in 5 adults (21%) have avoided dental care due to anxiety. 1 in 7 parents (14%) have skipped taking their children to the dentist for the same reason. The top driver of adult anxiety is fear of pain or discomfort — 59% of anxious adults. For pediatric anxiety, the parent-reported pain-fear share rises to 72% of anxious children.

At-home oral care is softening. Twice-daily brushing dropped to 74% of adults (from 79% the previous year). Daily flossing fell to 71% (from 76%). Daily mouthwash use fell to 66% (from 74%).

Patient prioritisation remained strong despite at-home softening. 87% of adults consider dental appointments as important as their annual physical exam.

Communication preferences are clear. 87% prefer digital reminders (SMS or email). 93% appreciate payment reminders. Technology adoption in the practice is associated with up to 75% trust uplift in the practitioner.

Where prophylaxis equipment intersects with the data

The 21% adult-avoidance figure is the editorial pivot. If one in five adults are not attending because they expect pain, then prophylaxis methods that are documented to produce less pain are not just clinically nicer — they are retention investments.

Our patient comfort review covers the peer-reviewed evidence in depth. The aggregated picture, from the Hatz et al. 2022 umbrella review of 10 underlying systematic reviews on low-abrasive air-powder water-jet technology (APWJT), is unambiguous: in supportive periodontal therapy, APWJT delivers comparable clinical outcomes, enhanced patient perception, and shorter clinical time versus conventional methods. The clinical-comfort advantage is independently documented across multiple systematic reviews.

For the 21% of adults avoiding dental care, "enhanced patient perception" is not a marketing phrase. It is the difference between a patient who reschedules a 6-month recall and one who delays for 18 months until something is wrong. Practices investing in air-polishing equipment — particularly the equipment-based comfort patterns covered in the 2026 buyer's guide — are not chasing a marginal clinical edge. They are reducing patient-side attrition.

Communication preferences and connected workflows

The Delta Dental data on patient communication preferences (87% prefer digital reminders; 93% appreciate payment reminders; 75% trust uplift with technology adoption) layers on top of the prophylaxis-equipment thesis. Patients want digital communication. Equipment with connected workflows — EMS Partner 2.0 dashboards, NSK Bluetooth foot controls, Woodpecker PT-E multi-language touchscreens — sits in the same operational direction.

This is not a coincidence. Patients respond well to technology-mediated practice operations because technology signals that the practice is investing, modern, and likely to deliver a better experience. The 75% trust uplift figure quantifies what dental marketing has assumed for years.

The practical procurement implication: equipment investments that double as patient-experience investments — connected platforms, digital documentation, treatment-data dashboards — carry an additional return that is not captured in TCO models. The combined tabletop trend is the equipment side of this connected-dentistry shift.

The at-home softening signal

Brushing, flossing, and mouthwash use all dropped between 2024 and 2025. This is operationally significant for prophylaxis-investment thinking because it pushes more biofilm management onto the practice rather than the patient. If patients are flossing less, the routine-prophylaxis visit is doing more work to compensate.

The demand side of the air-polishing market — the USD 953.98 million 2026 projected market at +5.94% CAGR — partly reflects this shift. Practices that get more cleaning to do per visit benefit from equipment that completes more work per chair-hour. European market growth concentrated in ES/PT/CEE Baltics reflects the same dynamic in markets with strong private-practice density and rising patient expectations.

Equipment-level implications

The Delta Dental data gives a clear hierarchy of equipment-investment priorities for clinics serving anxiety-affected patient bases:

• Air-polishing capability with low-abrasive powders (glycine and erythritol on EMS systems, glycine on competitors per the erythritol-vs-glycine evidence) directly addresses the pain-fear driver. The published comfort advantage from our comfort review is the operative finding.
• Connected-platform integration (EMS Partner 2.0, NSK Bluetooth, Woodpecker multi-language touchscreens) supports the 87%-prefer-digital-reminders pattern in patient communication.
• Temperature-controlled water delivery (available on EMS AIRFLOW Prophylaxis Master and GBT Machine, Woodpecker PT-E's dual heating system) addresses sensitivity — a comfort dimension less prominent in the Delta Dental data but consistent with the broader pain-fear theme.
• For pediatric-heavy practices, the 14% parent-skipping figure is operationally important. Lower-pain prophylaxis methods translate directly to pediatric attendance.

The 2026 buyer's guide covers the specific systems; the Delta Dental data is the patient-side anchor.