Dental instruments are

tools A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

that dental professionals use to provide dental treatment. They include tools to examine, manipulate, treat, restore, and remove

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

and surrounding

oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...

structures.

Examination instruments

These tools allow dental professionals to manipulate tissues for better visual access during treatment or during dental examination.

Dental mirror

The

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

or dental auxiliary use dental mirrors to view a mirror image of the teeth in locations of the mouth where visibility is difficult or impossible. They also are used for reflecting light onto desired surfaces, and for retraction of soft tissues to improve access or vision.

Probes

* Dental explorer (sickle probe) *

Periodontal probe A periodontal probe is an instrument in dentistry commonly used in the dental armamentarium. It is usually long, thin, and blunted at the end. The primary purpose of a periodontal probe is to measure pocket depths around a tooth in order to establ ...

Retractors

*Cheek retractor *Dental mirror *Lip retractor *

Mouth prop A mouth prop (also bite block) is a wedge-shaped implement used in dentistry for dentists working with children and other patients who have difficulty keeping their mouths open wide and steady during a procedure, or during procedures where the pa ...

*Tongue retractor

Local anesthesia

Dental anesthesia Dental anesthesia (or dental anaesthesia) is the application of anesthesia to dentistry. It includes local anesthetics, sedation, and general anesthesia. Local anesthetic agents in dentistry In dentistry, the most commonly used local anesthet ...

and dental syringe Anesthesia is broken down into three main categories: local, regional, and general, all of which affect the nervous system in some way and can be administered using various methods and different medications. Local anesthesia is an anesthetic drug (which can be given as a shot, spray, or ointment) that numbs only a small, specific area of the body (for example, a foot, hand, or patch of skin). With local anesthesia, a person is awake while sedated. Local anesthesia lasts for a short period of time and is often used for minor outpatient procedures (when patients come in for surgery and can go home that same day). For someone having outpatient surgery in a clinic or doctor's office (such as the dentist or dermatologist), this anesthetic is likely used. The medicine can numb the area during the procedure and for a short time afterwards to help control post-surgery discomfort. The function of this instrument involves successfully piercing the surface of the periodontal ligament so the patient can be distributed the anesthesia. Past devices have proven to be insufficient because it instilled fear in patients and made it exhaustingly uncomfortable for dentists to use because of the bulky size. With how simple it is to hide it in the hand due to the smaller size of modern day anesthetic syringes, dentists are successfully able to maneuver in a patient's mouth without causing harm to the patient being treated, allowing for a quick insert of the anesthesia followed by the dentist being able move on swiftly to the next task of the dental visit. Another aspect of the syringe is the capability of use, which means dentists are able to easily insert fluid in the device and follow the color coded instructions that allow for efficient use of the dental instrument. The device is so intricately sized that doctors are able to grip it well enough to get the job done. Some anesthetic syringes also include a power handle that gives the doctor less of a responsibility over the amount of pressure needed to push in the medicine because the power handle has settings that let the dentist set an amount for how much anesthetic they want to be produced.

Dental handpieces

Dental handpieces come in many various types which include: High-speed air driven (also known as an airotor), slow-speed, friction grip, and surgical handpiece.

Dental laser

dental laser A dental laser is a type of laser designed specifically for use in oral surgery or dentistry. In the United States, the use of lasers on the gums was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the early 1990s, and use on hard tissue lik ...

is a type of

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

designed specifically for use in oral surgery or

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...

. The use of a laser can decrease

morbidity A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

after surgery, and reduces the need for

anesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

s. Because of the

cauterization Cauterization (or cauterisation, or cautery) is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, o ...

of tissue there will be little bleeding following soft tissue procedures, and some risks of alternative

electrosurgery Electrosurgery is the application of a high-frequency (radio frequency) alternating polarity, electrical current to biological tissue as a means to cut, coagulate, desiccate, or fulgurate tissue.Hainer BL, "Fundamentals of electrosurgery", ''J ...

procedures are avoided.

Dental torque wrench

dental torque wrench A dental torque wrench or restorative torque wrench is a torque wrench used to precisely apply a specific torque to a fastener bolt for fixation of an abutment, dentures or prosthetics on a dental implant. Manual mechanical torque wrench Toggle ...

or restorative torque wrench is a torque wrench used to precisely apply a specific

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

to a fastener

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

for fixation of an

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

dentures Dentures (also known as false teeth) are prosthetic devices constructed to replace missing teeth, and are supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable ( removable partial denture o ...

, or prosthetics on a

dental implant A dental implant (also known as an endosseous implant or fixture) is a prosthesis that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodo ...

Burs

The cutting surfaces of dental burs are made of a multi-fluted

tungsten carbide Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: WC) is a chemical compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into ...

, a diamond coated tip, or a stainless steel multi-fluted rosehead. There are many types and classifications of burs. Some of the most common are: the round bur (sizes ¼ to 10) or inverted cone (sizes 33½ to 90L). Burs are also classified by the type of shank. For instance a latch type, or right angle bur, is only used in the slow speed handpiece with contra-angle attachment. Long shank or shaft is only used in the slow speed when the contra-angle is not in use, and finally a friction grip bur, which is a small bur, is used only in the high-speed handpiece. There are many bur shapes that are utilized in various specific procedures.

Operative burs

Flat fissure, pear-shaped, football, round, tapered, flame, chamfer, bevel, end cut, bud bur, steel, inverted cone, diamond, brown stone, and green-stone

Restorative instruments

Excavators

*Spoon excavator: Used to remove soft carious decay *Half hollenbach: Used to test for overhangs or flash *Dental hatchers: Used to widen the entrance of the tooth cavity and slice away the thin carious enamel *Chisels: **Straight - bevels the cavosurface margin and used in 3, 4, and 5 classifications of cavities on the maxillary **Wedelstaedt - only used in the anterior for classes 3, 4, and 5 **Bin Angle - this is held in a pen grasp and used for class 2 maxillary only

Burnishers

Burnishers are used for polishing and contouring amalgam fillings and to polish composite fillings. They include: *Ball burnisher *Beavertail burnisher *Cone burnisher *Flat plastic *Pear shaped burnisher

Pluggers

Pluggers are also known as amalgam condensers. They are used to achieve a well-condensed filling by compressing the filling material into the cavity and applying pressure. *Amalgam plugger *49 plugger

Periodontal instruments

Fine scalers

Fine scalers are used in the removal of soft deposits. They include: *Drury scalers *Fine excavators *MF 4/5

Heavy scalers

These are seen as the scalers used in the removal for heavy tartar and stains which are not removed by the fine scalers. They include: *American pattern B *Cushion scaler *Excavator *Hoe scaler *Jacquette 1 *Jacquette 2 *Jacquette 3 *Scaler 152

Curettes

Types include: *Gracey curettes - semicircle tipped, but one edge lower than the other. It is used at 70° to the tooth root surface. *Universal curettes - these have a semicircular tip used at 90° to the tooth root surface.

Prosthodontic instruments

Removable prosthodontics

*Articulators *Blow torch *

Bunsen burner A Bunsen burner, named after Robert Bunsen, is a kind of ambient air gas burner used as laboratory equipment; it produces a single open gas flame, and is used for heating, sterilization, and combustion. The gas can be natural gas (which is main ...

*Calipers *Face bow *Fox plane *Glass mixing slab *Lecrons carver *Mixing bowls *Spatulas for mixing dental plaster *Spatulas for mixing impression materials *Wax carver *Wax knife *Wax spatula *Willis gauge

Extraction and surgical instruments

Dental forceps

Ancient Greek and Roman dentists extracted teeth with

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

pliers Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist ...

. In 1840, Sir John Tomes and his friend Evrard made the first pair of dental

forceps Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...

. In 1841, Tomes posted an article to tell the whole world about his discovery of new forceps that had never been seen before, successfully becoming the creator of the forceps and the concept of forceps. In earlier times, or during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, elevators and pelicans were used as extraction devices because the idea of dental forceps did not exist, but the thought of extracting in the first place with some form of a tool was there. With pelicans, their sharp talons were used to be placed down on the inside of the mouth near the gums while the elevator helped pull the tooth out of its socket. Then, a pair of pincers would do the rest of the job, wiggling the tooth out of the gum until the extraction was complete. The functionality of today's dental forceps come from the need to remove items from the mouth such as the cotton balls dentists place next to a patient's teeth or the rubber bands a patient needs for their braces. However, most dental forceps are not designed for comfort, nor do they take the account of the dental practitioners hand positions throughout the procedure to mind. Dental forceps have been designed to the point where dentists experience medical complications of their own on the carpal scale considering their hands are always placed in an awkward angle while they remove items from the patient's mouth.

List of dental forceps

*Bayonet *Cow horns #23 *Greyhound *Lower universals *Root *Upper canine *Upper left molar *Upper right molar *Upper straight long *Upper straight short *Upper universal fine *Upper universals *Upper wisdom tooth

Elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
s

*Cogswell-A & B elevators * Coupland's elevators *Crane root tip elevators *Crossbar apex luxators *Cryer elevators *Flat elevators *Heidbrink root tip elevators *Miller's apex luxators *Molts elevators *Narrow and wide, straight and curved luxators *Periosteal elevators *Potts elevators *Root-tip pick elevator *Warwick James elevators *Winter elevators

Chisels

Osteotome An osteotome is an instrument used for cutting or preparing bone. Osteotomes are similar to a chisel but bevelled on both sides. They are used today in plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery and dental implantation. The chain osteotome, original ...

Orthodontic instruments

*Band pusher *Band setter *Bird beak pliers *Bracket holder *Bracket tweezer *Cinch back *Distal end cutters * Elastics *

Hemostat A hemostat (also called a hemostatic clamp, arterial forceps, or pean after Jules-Émile Péan) is a surgical tool used in many surgical procedures to control bleeding. For this reason, it is common in the initial phases of surgery for the initia ...

/Mathieu pliers *Tucker

Endodontic instruments

*Apex locator *Endodontic explorer *Finger pluggers *Finger spreader *Gates glidden burs *Guttapercha retrieval files *

Endodontic files and reamers Endodontic files and reamers are surgical instruments used by dentists when performing root canal treatment. These tools are used to clean and shape the root canal, with the concept being to perform complete chemomechanical debridement of the root ...

**Broken instrument retrieval files **Controlled memory flexible files **Hedstrom or H-files **K-files **Manual tapered files **McSpadden files **NiTi flex files **Pathfinder files **Rotary tapered files * Lentulo spiral *Masserans kit *Microscope *Peeso reamer burs *

Post and core A post and core crown is a type of dental restoration required where there is an inadequate amount of sound tooth tissue remaining to retain a conventional crown. A post is cemented into a prepared root canal, which retains a core restoration, which ...

kit

References

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