Probably the most common reason for someone visiting the dentist, is for cleaning. Thats why in part 4 of our 7 part guide we our covering the tools used in this kind of work. The tools mentioned below are likely to be used at even a standard dental checkup.
Periodontal Curettes
The periodontal curette is a dental tools used to clean and treat the area of the mouth just below the gum line called the gingiva. The tool employs a rounded tip to reduce the trauma to the patient. Used in prophylactic and periodontal tooth care to remove accumulated calculus from the subgingiva area around the tooth’s base.
Curettes are often have angled terminal shanks supplied with posterior analogues to enable the dental practitioner to successfully complete their task. If the curette’s blade is perpendicular to it’s shank this will facilitate the blade’s operation on the mesial or distal surface of a tooth. If the blade is laterally offset by 70 degrees to the shank this results in a tool with a lower cutting edge and a upper edge that is non-cutting. These tools are used to clean mesial tooth surfaces.
Similar tools for distal surface work are also used. Different sized curettes are used for the various types of teeth with their varying requirements.
Dental Mirrors or Mouth Mirrors
One of the most common dental tools is the mouth mirror. A mouth mirror is usually a small, round mirror attached to a slim handle. Various sizes are used to allow the dental practitioner access to view hard to see areas of the mouth such as the back molars, third molars, or areas where an obstruction such as a dental dam is blocking the view.
Apart from viewing teeth and the surrounding oral structures, the dental mouth mirror can also be used to retain soft tissue such as the tongue and cheeks. It can also be used to reflect light onto surfaces of teeth being worked on; especially beneficial when there is no direct vision of an obscure area of the mouth.
The use of mirrors also saves the dental professional from having to repeatedly adopt a poor postural position to see the other teeth saving them from developing chronic back and neck problems. These mouth mirrors are commonly used by other professionals such as engineers and by technicians in laser and optical laboratories.
Dental Mirrors with LED Lighting
Modern dental mirrors are using LED technology to generate pure white light to illuminate the mouth and tooth structures. LED light is shadow and glare free and can be powered by battery, allowing tools to be operated without cables.
This diminishes the need to repeatedly adjust both the patient and overhead lighting in order to be able to clearly see into the mouth. These mirrors are often coated in titanium to prevent corrosion and tarnishing and still allowing the unit to be autoclaved or ’sterilised’ to ensure utmost hygiene standards.
These dental tools are often supplied with an autoclavable handle and, as with most mirrors, they have a knurled grip to ensure ease of use. Depending on the tool, the mirrors may be supplied in batches and have disposable heads.
These mirrors are ideal tools for all types of oral examinations, restorative dentistry, air-abrasion, trans-illumination and identifying calculus build up, occlusal decay and checking root canal orifices. When used as a trans-illuminator they are also useful tools to high light areas where the tooth has fractured.
Dental Excavators
Dental excavators are used by the dental professional to remove soft carious decayed tooth material. Examples of dental excavators are spoon, half hollenbach, bin angle, straight and wedelstaedt chisels.
