The Innsbruck Study: Independent Cutting-Efficiency Test of Diamond Burs

In 2009, researchers at the Medical University of Innsbruck ran a standardized laboratory comparison of diamond burs from the leading European manufacturers and published the results in the peer-reviewed journal Stomatologie (2009; 106: 29–34). The instrument that removed the most material over the full test was Busch's diamond with cooling grooves — the design sold today as COOL DIAMANT. This page summarizes what was tested, how, and what the result means when you choose a diamond bur.

What Was Tested

Diamond burs from several manufacturers, including Busch, Diatech, Edenta, Horico and Komet, in comparable shapes and grits (ISO sizes 012 and 016, 105–125 µm diamond grit), with multiple instruments of each type so that results were not driven by a single bur.

How It Was Tested

High-speed handpiece at 200,000 rpm
Constant water-spray cooling at 50 ml/min
Constant 152 g load, applied by the test rig rather than by hand
Standardized 99.5% aluminum-oxide ceramic test blocks
Four consecutive 10-minute cuts per bur — 40 minutes of continuous use — with the cutting length measured after each interval

Measuring after each 10-minute interval is what makes the study useful: it shows not only how fast a bur cuts when new, but how much of that performance it keeps.

Results

The Busch diamond with cooling grooves (Busch K) achieved the highest total cutting length in the primary test series: 17.30 mm, significantly ahead of the other manufacturers tested (p < 0.05).
Instruments with cooling grooves ranked highest for both cutting efficiency and sustained performance.
Every bur lost cutting performance after the first 10 minutes. The grooved Busch instruments held their performance longer, which in practice means fewer replacements over the same amount of work.

Why the Grooves Matter

COOL DIAMANT instruments carry asymmetrically intersecting grooves cut through the diamond coating. The grooves interrupt the grinding process up to seven times per rotation, carry coolant directly to the cutting surface and clear debris instead of packing it into the diamond layer. Less heat at the cutting surface means less wear on the diamonds and their bond, and that is what the Innsbruck measurements show over 40 minutes of continuous cutting.

What It Means for Your Practice

Fewer burs per procedure: a bur that keeps cutting through the later stages of a preparation is a bur you do not change mid-case.
Consistent cutting speed: preparation time stays predictable from the first crown of the day to the last.
Cooler cutting: lower heat at the preparation, which matters for pulp comfort and for ceramic adjustment where heat causes micro-cracks.

Reading the Study Fairly

This was a laboratory test on ceramic blocks under a fixed load, not a clinical trial on teeth, and it dates from 2009. Those are the right conditions for isolating instrument performance from operator technique, and the cooling-groove design tested then is the design Busch still manufactures. Treat the result as strong evidence about instrument durability under controlled conditions rather than as a claim about any individual clinical outcome.

Source

Untersuchung zur Schleifleistung diamantierter Schleifkörper (Investigation of the grinding performance of diamond-coated instruments), Medical University of Innsbruck, Stomatologie 2009; 106: 29–34. The paper is in German: full text on ResearchGate.

Shop the Tested Design

Every COOL DIAMANT instrument is manufactured by Busch & Co. in Engelskirchen, Germany, ships from our US warehouse, and is covered by our Busch arrival guarantee.

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