FINISHING AND POLISHING

VICTORIA KEISHAM
POST GRADUATE STUDENT
DEPATRMENT OF CONSERVATIVE AND ENDODONTICS
BANGALORE INSTITUDE OF DENTAL SCIENCES
 CONTENTS

• Definition
.

• Goals of finishing and polishing

• Benefits of finishing and polishing
• Principles of finishing and polishing
• Steps in finishing and polishing
• Biological hazards of finishing and polishing
• Abrasion
• Mechanism of abrasion
• Abrasive instruments design
• Types of abrasive
 GOALS OF FINISHING AND POLISHING

• To obtain the desired anatomy

• Proper occlusion
• Reduction of roughness and the depth of gouges and scratches produced
by the contouring and finishing instruments.
• Surface should be well tolerated by oral tissues.
• Resist bacterial adhesion and excessive plaque accumulation.
 BENEFITS OF FINISHING AND POLISHING

• Minimal irritation of soft and hard tissues.

• Stimulates natural tooth surface aesthetics
• Less likely to trap food debris and plaque
• Reduced potential for corrosions
• More hygienic
 PRINCIPLSE OF CUTTING,GRINDING, FINISHING AND
POLISHING

Cutting operation

-Involves the use of bladed instrumented or bladelike tools

-The primary objectives is to divide substrates into segments or create notches
and grooves.
-High speed carbide burs with multiple blades or diamond burs are commonly
used.
-Different types of burs have unique effects on surfaces
-A carbide bur with more blades will produce a smother surface than
a carbide bur with fewer blades.
2. Grinding operation
-Utilizes bonded or coated abrasive instruments containing randomly
arranged abrasive particles
-Grinding operation removes small particles of a substrate through the action
of bonded or coated abrasive instruments.
-Each particles has multiple sharp points that remove materials from the
substrate surface.
-Diamond coated rotary instruments are commonly used for grinding.
3.Polishing principle
-It removes the finest surface particles.
-Polishing removes scratches from the previous grinding procedure and is completed
when the desired level of surface smoothness is achieved.
-The final stage of polishing produces scratches so fine that they are not visible unless
greatly magnified.
-Rubber abrasive points, fine particles disks and strips and fine particle polishing
paste are used .
4.Finishing
-This process require several steps to reach the desired surface smoothness,
-It provides a relatively blemish free, smooth surface.
-Flute carbide burs of no 18-30, fine and superfine diamond burs and abrasives
of size between 8-20 micometer is used.
 STEPS IN FINISHING AND POLISHING

1. Bulk removal

2. Contouring

3. Finishing

4. Polishing
 BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS OF GRINDING, FINISHING AND POLISHING
PROCESS.

• Dispersion of solid particles are generated and released into the breathing space of
laboratories and dental clinics when finishing and polishing are performed.

• These airborne particles may contain tooth structure , dental materials and micro
organisms. Such aerosols have been identified as potential source of infectious and
chronic of the eyes and lungs.

• Silicosis ( Grinder’s disease) is a major aerosol hazard in dentistry .

• PRECAUTIONS-

1- Adequate water spray and suction

2-Proper Eyewear and facemask
3-Proper Ventilation.
 ABRASION

• Abrasion-Process of wearing away of a surface by friction.

MECHANISM OF ABRASION
 ABRASIVE INSTRUMENT DESIGN

• Abrasive grits
• Bonded abrasive
• Coated abrasive disks and strips
• Nonbonded abrasive
• Abrasive grits
-They are derived from materials that have been crushed and passed through a
series of mesh screens to obtain different particle size ranges.
-Dental abrasive grits are classified as coarse, medium coarse, fine, and
superfine according to the particle size.
• Bonded abrasive
-Bonded abrasives consists of abrasive particles incorporated through a binder
to form grinding tools such as points, wheels, separating disks, coated thin
disks.
-Bonded abrasive are used for bulk reduction, contouring , finishing and
polishing of restorative surfaces.
• Coated abrasive
-Coated abrasive are fabricated by securing abrasive particles to a flexible
backing material with a suitable adhesive material.
- These abrasives are supplied as disks and strips.
• Nonbonded abrasive
-Polishing paste are considered nonbonded abrasives and are primarily used
for final polishing .
-Aluminum oxide and diamond are the most popular nonbonded abrasives.
TYPES OF ABRASIVE