Important Knowledge About Veterinary Dental Burs

Dental burs can be used for cutting hard tissues – tooth or bone. They may be made from steel, stainless steel, tungsten carbide and diamond grit. There can be a bewildering range of dental burs in any dental catalogue, but also for basic veterinary just use a number of burs are expected.


All burs have a very shank and a head. You will find three main forms of shank – Long Straight Shank (HP), Latch-type Shank (RA) Grip Shank (FG)

Long Straight Shank (HP)
These shanks fit into the nose cone with the slow speed handpiece once the prophy angle or contra angle is taken away. They are utilised for diamond cutting discs or long 40mm burs. The primary use of HP burs is in the trimming of small herbivore cheek teeth.

Latch-type Shank (RA)
These shanks fit into the latch from the contra-angle on slow speed handpieces. They are often 20mm long and accessible in the same shapes as FG burs.

Friction Grip Shank (FG)
These shanks match the turbine of your high-speed handpiece. The standard length is 20mm long, but longer surgical lengths can be found and the are generally necessary for veterinary work.

Round Head
These heads can be used cavity preparation, creating access points, undercuts and channels for luxator blades in extraction. Sizes cover anything from 1/4 to 9. The lesser the telephone number, smaller your head. The most effective sizes to make use of initially are 1, 2, and 4.

Pear Head
These heads bring cavity preparation, access points and splitting roots of small teeth. The most useful sizes are 330 and 330L

Crosscut Tapered Fissure Head
These heads bring sectioning multi-rooted teeth and reducing crown height when disarming dogs. One of the most useful sizes are 700/700L and 701/701L.

Finishing Burs
These heads can be used finishing restorations, soft tissue recontouring, alveolaplasty, enameloplasty and odontoplasty. They are often obtained as 12 or 30 bladed burs in carbide steel or as diamond heads of varied shapes. They’re also available as white stone, for composite, or green stone, for amalgam.
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