Burs
The Dental Advisor dishes on what reps need to know about the bur product segment
By Mary Yakas
Editor’s Note: At The Dental Advisor, not a day goes by without our phone ringing from a customer asking for the “best.” As a dental publication that was designed after Consumer Reports, over the past 25 years we have learned one thing – the best changes from day to day. Providing relevant and timely information to customers is something we strive for. This series of Tech Talks focuses on educating dental sales professionals on the products and technology they are selling so they can in turn educate their customer.
One of the most confusing areas for any dental professional is that of bur selection. When I was an assistant, trying to keep track of what was needed in any given procedure was a task.
As a sales representative, the best thing to do is to carry a bur wallet with you. Shapes, sizes and grits (as well as your customer’s description of them) vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
To understand your customer’s needs in bur selection, there are other factors that may affect the quality of the bur they are looking for. Knowing how everything fits together and where specific burs are needed is essential. Doctors who insist on using a new bur or diamond with each procedure may not be getting the performance they want from their hand piece. In addition, incorrect burs are often used to get the job done.
The basics
So what do you need to know? Examine the workflow of the offices you work with. If they are on a cassette-based system for their instrumentation, customized bur blocks are the way to go. If the office uses disposable burs, you will need to understand the daily and weekly workload and where specific diamonds and burs are utilized. Here are a few basics:
- A bur is made up of 3 parts: The head, the neck, and the shank. The biggest area of complaint from doctors concerns the burs breaking or becoming dull. Checking the quality of the manufacturing at the neck of the bur will educate you on the quality of the product. If not properly manufactured, this is the weakest point. If a bur becomes dull, it is likely the head is cracked or broken from overuse. Many sterilizable burs are used well beyond the point.
- Bur shanks come in FG (Friction Grip), FG-SS (Friction Grip Short Shank), FG Surgical (Friction Grip Surgical Length), RA (Right Angle), RA-SS (Right Angle Short Shank) and Hand piece burs. Friction Grip burs are used in high speed hand pieces, and are the most popular burs for operative and restorative procedures. Short Shank burs are for difficult-to-reach areas, especially in the posterior region. Surgical Length burs are used for oral surgery and endodontic procedures, where additional visibility is necessary. Right Angle burs are used in slow speed hand pieces, where it is important to slowly remove tooth structure and provide a more tactical feel when removing decay. Hand piece burs are used extraorally for trimming and finishing both in dental practices and in dental laboratories.
- Bur numbers often correspond to size and shape.
- Carbide burs are used for tooth preparation, excavation of decay, finishing cavity walls, finishing the surfaces of restorations, and removing old restorations.
Types of burs
The types of the most popular burs and their uses are as follows:
- Round. Used to remove carious tooth structure, and also in some situations for endodontic access. The most commonly used sizes are 2, 4, 6 and 8, with 2 being the smallest.
- Inverted cone. Used to remove caries and place retention grooves during preparation.
- Fissure burs. Used to modify the walls of cavity preparations, place retention grooves, and access difficult areas near the prep. They typically have long grooves in the working end.
- Straight and taper fissure burs. Straight have parallel sides and tapered fissure have sides that taper and converge together near the tip
- Cross cut straight and cross cut taper fissure burs. Both types have horizontal grooves which are said to increase cutting ability.
- End-cutting burs. Cutting portion is on the end of the tip.
- Trimming and finishing burs. Used for trimming and finishing temporary and final restorations. They are typically described by the shape and number of blades. The more blades there are, the finer the finish.
Regardless of what knowledge you have on burs, there are always things to learn. It is just one of the complex areas of dentistry that make it a unique business. Understanding and questioning the process your customers follow will not only enhance your own learning, it will make you a better sales representative. As with any selling, the key is understanding your customers and meeting their needs to keep them loyal to you for a lifetime.
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