Dental & Medical Instruments

Dentists and doctors use a wide variety of instruments in order to fix patient's teeth and perform diagnostic and surgical procedures. An entire industry exists that manufactures these medical tools that make the work more efficient and easier to perform. Each tool is designed with a specific use in mind and any dentist or physician is likely to have many instruments on hand to assist them with their work.

Dental Mouth Mirror

• One of the first things the dentist or hygienist grabs during a visit to the dentist is a long metal shaft with a small round mirror mounted at the end. This dental mouth mirror is used to hold the patient's cheek back and is angled in a way that makes viewing the hard-to-see areas inside the mouth simple. Dentists use this tool to better see the work they are performing and hygienists use it to assist them in scraping and cleaning teeth during regular check ups.

Spoon Excavator

• The spoon excavator is a frequently used tool in the dentist office that is designed to help the dentist remove debris and decayed material from cavities. The instrument is called a spoon excavator because it scoops or spoons out the material and hollows out the tooth so it can be filled.

  These excavators are typically 1 millimeter, 1.5 millimeters or 2 millimeters in diameter and are generally referred to as small, medium and large.

Curette

• A curette is a dental instrument used to perform a procedure known as curettage. Curettage is the removal of dead tissue from the gum area in dentistry, according to DentalFind.com. The curette is generally used for the type of curettage that involves removing the decaying material from the pockets between the gum and tooth.

Stethoscope

• Everyone who has been to a doctor for a check up or any other diagnostic purpose has likely encountered a stethoscope. The stethoscope is a staple of the doctor's tool kit. It is used to listen to the sounds of the body.

  The stethoscope allows the doctor to hear the heartbeat of the patient and also allows the doctor to monitor the sound of the lungs during breathing and to hear abnormal sounds from the intestinal tract or stomach. It can also hear blood flow in some arteries.

Scalpel

• The scalpel is a standard medical instrument used in operating rooms. The scalpel is a straight, very sharp knife that slices through the skin and muscle tissue in order to allow doctors to access the inside of the body and perform various surgical procedures with precision. This is the main cutting tool used in the beginning of most surgeries.