DIY dentistry...!

Apr 20, 2015 37 Replies

Looking at the supplier's prices for those and other items, I suspect they are importers. The most probable place of origin being Pakistan, as they have long been producers of medical and dental instruments. When I was in the trade, Pakistan made instruments, other than those made by outsourced German factories, were a by-word for poor quality steel and bad workmanship. I know the supplier says that the instruments are CE marked, but, I have spoken to some of the manufacturers at trade exhibitions and would not be confident that it meant any more than that the purchaser had asked for instruments with the CE Mark.

Having said that, there is not a lot to go wrong with dental probes. They might bend if made from the wrong sort of steel, but they are not likely to kill you.

Not me and I used to make the tools.

I was slightly surprised to discover that you can't just go out and buy medical oxygen any more.

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Well, I have ordered the set you suggested. At ?6.95 it seemed worth trying. However, I'll decide on whether to use them or not only when I see them!

BTW, your URL wrapped and broke. Like many companies the URLs that Amazon use have the extra text only to enhance their ranking in search engines. The above URL can be shortened to remove the unnecessary text

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James

I have some very nice old surgical instrument catalogues, showing worse than that. Indeed, thinking about some of the stuff for entering the skull, I have probably made worse.

If a scale and polish is *dentally necessary* then the dentist is obliged to carry it out under NHS provision.

They don't like doing it because renting the surgery to a hygienist for the afternoon is a nice little earner while they're on the golf course.

Owain

In article , David writes

No but you should receive a basic scale & polish as part of your checkup although you may have to ask for it and refuse the (private) hygienist's visit.

Some interesting comments here:

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I've been using tools like those for a couple of years. Dental enamel is

*very* tough and you'd have to have very rotten teeth to risk doing any damage I reckon.

They are a billion times better than fannying around with bits of floss or interdental brushes IMO and my own dentist has only had to do a bit of "top-up" de-scaling once out of my last four visits since I started using them.

Tim

but never does

NT

The story WW2 story I was told was about a Captain who did not want to hand over command of his ship whilst he was being anaesthetized, so he told the dentist to take the tooth out whilst he was conscious.

I wish I could say the same. I regularly use floss and the little TePe brushes. The TePe brushes keep the plaque from the bottom of my front teeth, but the floss does not stop plaque building up higher up between my teeth, and once it is there it is very difficult to remove.

I am tempted by these tools although when I broached the idea of getting some 20 years ago with my then dentist he advised against it.

Chainsaw!

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Thomas Prufer

On 20 Apr 2015, "James Harris" grunted:

I don't think availability of an item on Amazon constitutes an invitatin to DIY... how about trying a set of bone chisels?

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Or an abdominal retractor?
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That is a bit old, even for some of my catalogues, but I like it. Making the teeth must have been interesting.

These days they use oscillating saws, which will cut bone but not soft tissue.

And the ivory (or bone) handles...

So not "angle grinder" but "Fein Multmaster"?

(Which was originally developed as a saw cut off plaster casts, says so on their "History" page.)

Thomas Prufer

The instrument maker wouldn't have made those but would buy them in from a handle maker. Those were usually based in places like Sheffield, where cutlery was made.

I remember having a plaster cast cut off with one of those when I was a teenager. The doctor demonstrated that it wouldn't cut skin by pressing the blade into the base of his thumb.

Wimps - what's wrong with a pneumatic drill?

Ask the Hatton Garden guys about their cement treatment!

Hi James,

I am researching a piece on DIY dentistry - do you have time to talk tomorrow? Look forward to hearing from you, very best, Kate

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