Professional Dental Instruments

Dentists use hand-held instruments to carry out precision work on a patient's teeth. The handles and shanks of the tools are constructed from stainless steel or carbon steel. The blades and inserts are made from tungsten carbide to retain their cutting edges.

Chisels

• Dentists use chisels for planning, cleaving and laterally scraping patients' teeth. The instrument can be recognized by the 90-degree angle that is made between the cutting edge and the plane of the tool. Chisels are used to shape a tooth's enamel walls and to cut out any undermined enamel.

Spoon Excavators

• A spoon excavator has cutting edges that are curved and either claw-like or circular. Dentists use the tool with a lateral cutting movement in the removal of tooth decay and for carrying amalgam. Spoon excavators are available in small, medium or large sizes. The small instruments are relatively fragile so should not be used with great force.

Hoe

• A hoe has a blade with an angle of more that 12.5 degrees from the plane of the tool. Hoes are used in a pulling motion and used by dentists to remove enamel that is no longer properly bonded with a patient's tooth.

Hatchet Excavator

• A hatchet excavator has two bevels that form its cutting edge, which itself is parallel to the tool's handle. Dentists use the instrument to ready a patient's anterior teeth for gold restorations. Right-handed dentists use the tool in the lower right, lower left and upper left of the patient's mouth.