Different types of bur and their use

Dental burs are the tools that dentists use for almost every dental procedure. They are necessary tools for cutting, grinding, removing soft and hard tissues and are designed in a way to attach to the rotary handpiece for dental work.

There are a quite a lot of different dental burs available on the market and each have their own advantages. The most common types are diamond burs and tungsten carbide burs. These are the general categories and within them, there are subcategories to suit all different procedures.

Diamond Burs:

Diamond burs allow for faster cutting and are used for precision shaping and polishing. They are made from stainless steel which is then coated in diamond powder available in different grits. The grit determines the type of procedure the bur can be used for and a finer grit allows for a more precise work.

Tungsten Carbide Burs:

These burs are made from tungsten carbide and are stronger and sturdier than steel. They are ideal for cutting work such as preparing cavities for fillings, shaping bone during dental implant surgery, and removing old fillings. They also leave a smoother surface than diamond burs and have less vibration than other types of bur.

Ceramic Burs:

Ceramics burs are often used for adjusting acrylic and thermoplastic pieces since ceramic doesn’t conduct as much heat and this makes it easier to maintain the integrity of any pieces that are being adjusted.

Steel Burs:

These burs are low maintenance and quite flexible but tend to chip and dull more easily than other dental burs. They are often used for removing dentin and preparing cavity. They also offer good edge retention when combined with wear resistant carbides.

Shapes of dental burs:

Each type of bur comes in a variety of sizes and shapes, each serving a specific purpose with their own advantages. Having the right shape for the job, is just as important as having the best material. Some of the common shapes of dental burs are round, pear and cross-cut tapered. Round burs are often used in order to create access points and cavity preparation, but they are also used for creating undercuts and channels for scalpels during a tooth/root extraction. Pear burs are also used for creating access points and cavity preparation and splitting roots of smaller teeth. Cross-cut tapered burs are best suited for cutting, which leads to less debris. As a result, they’re used for reducing the height of crowns and sectioning the teeth that have multiple roots.

Single patient use burs:

These burs and other instruments such as mirrors, probes, and procedural kits, are made to be used and discarded right after instead of sterilization for the next patient. They are cost efficiently, patient friendly, and will provide better hygiene. In case of hygiene, even if a dentist uses exceptional cleaning and sterilization techniques, a small number of bacteria will survive the temperature and pressures of an autoclave. So, single patient use burs will provide better hygiene and improve a practice’s infection control by minimizing the transfer of oral microorganisms. Also, burs tend to dull over time  which means in order to achieve a cutting intensity, more pressure should be applied, and this can irritate the patient.