Need to buy Ortho instruments, which brand to get?

[bracketmaster]

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I am starting an ortho residency in July. If you had to buy your own or have worked with several brands, which ones do you prefer. It seems that the options are Hu-Friedy, Ortho-Pli, and GAC. Any advise would be great. Thanks.

 

[charlestweed]

My program director ordered ortho instruments for me…..a lot of them I think were unnecessary. In my private practice, I only use straight cutters, distal end cutters, mathieu, weingarts, bird beaks, 3 prongs, separating pliers, posterior band removers, bracket tweezers, bite sticks, band pushers, explorers (single ended), and mouth mirrors.

For distal end and ligature/straight wire cutters, I highly recommend Hu-friedy (approx. 130-150 dollars/plier). Dentronix instruments cost about the same but their quality is inferior to Hu-friedy. I don’t know much a bout GAC. Masel also makes good distal end cutters and they are not too expensive. In my opinion, Hu-friedy is the best👍.

Orthopli gives you very good deal when you place a large order. I would NOT recommend their cutting instruments because the cutting inserts break and chip very often. The company will replace new ones for you @ no charge as long as you are an ortho resident. You should replace most of them before you graduate. I ordered most of my non-cutting instruments (bird beaks, 3 prong, Weingart, band removers, separating pliers) from Orthopli b/c the price is reasonable and the quality is acceptable.

For Mathieu hemostat, you don’t really have to buy expensive brands. I ordered mine from Ortho-direct.com for 25 dollars each ($37 now). When the 2 holding tips of the mathieu hemostats diverge (from excessive usage) and fail to hold the A-lastics (O rings), I simply bend the tips toward each other with the Weingart plier…..and they work like brand new instruments again. In 2.5 years, I have not discarded any of them yet. http://www.ortho-direct.com/details.php?prodId=317&categor]=32.

Bite sticks from 3M Unitek are very good and they can withstand high heat sterilization.

For less important instruments like bracket tweezers, mixing spatulas, and cotton pliers, explorers, mouth mirrors, you can order them from osecompany.com.

If you see 6-8 patients a day, you only need about 3-4 sets of basic instruments (distal end, straight cutters, Mathieu, explorer, and mouth mirrors).

 

[gryffindor]

Sounds like you might be coming to Vandy...

If so, stick with Hu-Friedy for cutting instruments, Ortho-pli for non-cutting things like 3 prong pliers and birdbeaks, and GAC for their Smaha slim like mathieu plier only.

I don't recommend Masel at all. The only thing they have been good for was any instrument used solely for lab purposes. All of my intra-oral instruments by them have been pretty crummy. I had to mail a bunch of them back because they broke or deformed within the first 6 months.

 

[straightwire]

I am starting an ortho residency in July. If you had to buy your own or have worked with several brands, which ones do you prefer. It seems that the options are Hu-Friedy, Ortho-Pli, and GAC. Any advise would be great. Thanks.

I agree with the others....stay with Hu-Friedy for cutting instruments; they worth the extra costs. The non cutting instruments doesn't really matters that much. I use Ortho-Pli myself for non-cutting instruments....The instruements are reasonally priced and the quality is acceptable.

 

[Xplorer]

Does anyone have experience with Miltex brand for ortho inst?

 

[NewNameForGoogleBot]

GAC and Masel are junk. Dentronix are pretty good. I use mostly ortho-pli in my practice and like them (good customer service as well), Hu-Friedy are the best, especially for cutting instruments