What are the different types of dental instruments and their uses?

Mouth Mirror

The dental mirror is used to provide indirect vision, retracts lips, cheeks and tongue. It can redirect light into the mouth. A concave mirror gives a dentist a magnified reflection of their patient’s mouth while also reflecting some light – this makes it easier for them to see what they’re doing.

Explorers

The explorer is a dental tool used to examine the teeth for decay, calculus, furcations and other abnormalities. It got its name because of its help in exploring the mouth looking for possible issues that might be troubling a patient without being too intrusive.

Cotton Forceps

This instrument used to transfer materials in or out of the oral cavity is called a “probe”. It most commonly grabs cotton, but can be used for other things as well! The latin root para- means “toward” and -ceptum means seize; combined they mean grab take hold of something from this direction ̵e proceps literally translated to grasp with the hand.

Periodontal Probe

The periodontal probe is used to measure the depth of a periodontal pocket in millimeter increments. The Greek root for “peri-” means that something is related to bone or tissue around a tooth, so it can remind you that this tool evaluates how healthy the mouth area is by looking at where the gums are receding from teeth and whether there’s any infection present.

Ultrasonic Scaler

This instrument is used to remove tartar from teeth by creating vibrations that reverberate outside the audible range of hearing for humans.

Extracting Forceps

The forceps is a tool that dentists use to remove teeth. The word comes from the latin words “ex-” which means to dig or pull out, and -tract (which also has this meaning).

Dental Elevator

The dental elevator is a tool used to lift teeth before extraction. It easily can be remembered by thinking about how it works, because this tool assists with tooth extractions and helps reduce trauma in the mouth area following surgery.

Air Water Syringe

The dental syringe is one of the most common tools used by a dentist’s assistant. It allows for injecting air or water into the oral cavity, and it can be recognized in its typical usage because there are two tubes that come out at an angle from either side to allow for fluid injection.

Saliva Ejector

Saliva is a natural bodily fluid which can often be removed from the oral cavity during dental procedures. This instrument, similar to many others used by dentists, removes saliva and water from your mouth while you are being worked on. The suction created by this tool sucks up excess fluids that may have built up in your mouth before they become troublesome or uncomfortable for patients.