What are all the types of dental burs and their uses?!
Question:
What are all the types of dental burs and their uses?
I started at a new practice where you prepare the dentists' burs but only the burs they need. I have never really needed to know this before since most dentists I know deal with the burs on their own. So basically I need to know the uses of these burs: christmas tree, football, 425, flame, and round and which are finishing burs. Like if patient has MOD on tooth C what burs do I need? And where is a website with pictures of these? Thanks!
Answers:
What burs a dentist uses is personal preference.. As far as the ones you mentioned go, I can tell you what they are used for:
- Christmas tree: The ones I use are usually Arkansas stones (white tip), used for shaping or polishing resin fillings.
- Football: These are usually diamonds, and I use them to do occlusal reductions for crown preps, or to cut bevels for bonding.
- Flame: For trimming the edges of fillings smooth against a tooth surface. I use the fine-grit ones as finishing burs.
- Round: Tiny ones for cutting retention features, large ones for excavation of caries (in a slow-speed).
Those are what I use them for anyway.. As I mentioned, every dentist has different preferences.
Hope this helps!