how coarse are your crown prep burs for clinic?

[Faux]

We have some green stripped and red stripped burs but found my self not really happy with the strength of them and even had to reuse 1o r 2 despite doing this on a patient. Theres an option to order some black stripped burs (more coarse) but was just curious to see hows everyone doing with a typical crown prep.

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[TanMan]

Take it one step further... gross reduction extra coarse burs. Finish the prep in a few mins.

Here's an example: Diamond Bur- Gross Reduction - Coarse Grit

Finish it off with regular extra coarse burs. Rougher surface = better micromechanical retention if you're bonding your restorations.

 

[Munks]

In practice, black/extra coarse for 95% of reduction - it cuts fast and like TanMan said, I don't know if it's evidence-based or if it really makes a difference, but I would think it gives slightly better surface area for retention. I personally like to go back around the margin with a medium to get a smoother margin.

Be wary as a dental student using more coarse burs though because you have to worry about your hand skills, prep design, over/under-tapering, undercuts, etc.. and the coarseness of the bur may cause you to chunk off more tooth structure than you should have. If I were you, I would just stick with the regular medium-coarse ones (green I think?). If you have to swap out burs halfway through the prep so be it, you can use the new one for more gross reduction and save the old one to refine your margin.

 

[spicyfish]

The coarse burs are great for preps but, as Munks said, you should be careful if you're just starting out since it can cut very fast and you may be in trouble before you know it. Don't count it out though, practice a few times with an extracted tooth first so you can get a feel of how it cuts on natural teeth.

 

[lovingdentistry]

I've used black, green, and red diamonds but still prefer green then red. You can be faster by using black but remember fast does not always equal quality if you don't have the hand skills to have complete control over what you are cutting. Also, it's harder to smooth out a course surface and will require even more tooth reduction to go from black to green to red when you finish.

 

[TanMan]

The only thing about using fine diamonds as the primary bur is the higher potential for friction/heat which may lead to pulpitis. This can make you look bad in front of a patient that didn't have any symptoms to start off with. Remember that there's a nerve inside that tooth (unless you already did an RCT). Coarse cuts faster and less friction. Depending on the water ports on your handpiece and whether you're using electric/air will dictate how much you're heating up the tooth by cutting into it with certain burs. Red burs with the torque of electric and inadequate irrigation will likely lead to reversible/irreversible pulpitis.