If you are thinking of studying the degree of Dentistry or you are already a student, no matter what year and you are asking yourself what materials you will need throughout each course or even next year, we have created this article, thinking of resolving these doubts exclusively for you.
Bearing in mind that, depending on the University and the country where you study dentistry, the degree will be divided into semesters and in most institutions the academic term is designed to be taken annually. Therefore, the list of instruments and materials to be used usually varies from one university to another, although not to a great extent.
The curricula for professionals in the dental sector are mainly focused on developing and strengthening your skills not only through theoretical knowledge, but it is also extremely important to perform academic practices, both pre-clinical and clinical so that you can perfect and apply what you have been studying in books, both in study models in the early years of career, as well as with patients in more advanced years. Also, to take them successfully, you will need to have the necessary instruments, materials and equipment .
1st Year. Basic resources to start with.
We know that as a student, you always require the use of a computer, pencils, scissors or pen drive, in this case you will probably need red and blue coloured pencils, grid sheets and even a flexible ruler. However, we rely mostly on what you will need as a dentistry student.
First of all, it is essential that you take care of yourself, the dental professional is generally exposed to fluids and materials so biosafety is of vital importance, for which initially you will need:
- White coat.
- Protective glasses
- Disposable gloves.
- Disposable hats
- Disposable masks
In some institutions, from the first year, you will attend the clinic as an observer, and you will be asked to wear uniforms and clogs, these are designed for sanitary use in the clinic, as they repel bacteria are comfortable and easy to wash and even a little waterproof. For footwear, there is also a variety of options, there are various colors and open or closed designs, the important thing is that they are non-slip and breathable. You are going to use them to attend anatomy or biomaterial laboratories or in your clinic visits.
Also, in some universities the purchase of rotary instruments is mandatory from the first year, however, in some institutions, the use of rotary instruments begins from the 2nd or even in the 3rd year.
In the dental sector there are many types of disposable material, such as gloves, you will find various compositions, materials, sizes and colors, it is useful to know this, as there is a percentage of students who are allergic to latex gloves and opt for the use of vinyl or nitrile gloves. In the same way, there are different models of protective goggles. Visit our categories of gloves y de protective glasses. Choose the model you like best and it adapts to your needs, size and budget. You can also access the category disposables in which we classify everything you will need to protect yourself in your practices in a single section.
2nd year. Internships in study models.
When you start the 2nd year, you already start learning about dental morphology and occlusion, and surely you will start making dental impressions to models designed for it (take advantage that they do not talk, do not complain, do not bite, do not salivate). Also, it is possible that you start in periodontal treatments, performing dental cleanings and that you practice the different radiological techniques that exist. In addition, you will begin to have contact with the different types of cements, to know their properties, how to mix them and how to set them. For all this, you will need:
- Exploration Kit (Mirror, tweezers and scanning probe).
- Dental models and typodontos.
- Dental impression trays. of different sizes where depending on your university, it is probably most cost effective to buy a set of 10 trays, 5 upper and 5 lower.
- Alginate or silicones.
- Cup and spatula for mixing alginate.
- Cup and spatula for plaster.
- Plaster.
- Articulator (probably hinged).
- Sockets.
- Knife for cutting plaster.
- Dental X-rays.
- Radiographic positioner.
- Spatula for mixing cements.
- Glass tile.
- Dappen glass.
- Waxes.
- Zinc hydroxide cement and Eugenol.
- Glass ionomer.
The diagnostic kit is usually sold separately for each instrument or you can buy the exploratory kit with the 3 pieces together. As in this case of Exploratory Kit. You can visit or section for dental instruments in which you will have the possibility to browse over mixing spatulas, probes and knives for plaster or plaster. Also, in our students category impression you will find everything related to alginates, wax, printing buckets, mixing cups and much more.
3rd year. The real internships begin.
We can officially say that you enter the wonderful world of dentistry from the 3rd year of the career, in which you begin to have much more contact with all the instruments and materials and also leaving aside the models to start your practices directly in patients.
The 3rd year is the perfect year to make the investment in quality instruments, especially the rotary that is essential to be durable, ergonomic, and easy to use. The high and low speed rotary instruments are essential in this course, as you will start using them frequently. If it is the first time, that you buy rotary instruments and you do not know what factors to take into account, visit our article Video: Everything you need to know about rotary kits, explained where you will find everything you need to know before choosing and several tips before buying them.
It is precisely when you begin surgery classes that you become passionate about designing and filling exceptional cavities in the discipline of aesthetics and restoration, making impressions and diagnoses with children in pediatric dentistry. You will also be very excited when you eliminate a nerve for the first time in your successful root canal treatment or you will start to choose from then on which specialty you want to do at the end of your degree, since you are already working in much more specific areas, such as orthodontics, periodontics and prosthetics. For that you need:
- Turbine.
- Micromotor with counter-angle.
- Oils for lubrication of rotary instruments.
- Diagnostic sets.
- Burrs of different shapes and sizes (for both turbine and micromotor).
- Freshers for storage and sterilisation.
- Light-curing resin and temporary or definitive filling cements.
- Composite condenser.
- Matrix holder.
- Clamps or staples, staple holders, dam drills, insulating dams and Young's arch. Something very demanded normally among all the students, is the insulation kit., which brings all these products previously mentioned (Here we also have all these references separately, clamps, clamp holders, perforators and Young's bow).
- Finishing and polishing discs or brushes.
- Ball grinder, groove shaper, Hollemback spatula.
- Forceps:
- 8 Upper: 1 straight of incisors and canines; 1 of upper premolars; 1 of upper right molars, 1 of upper left molars, 1 of upper wisdom teeth; 1 bayonet of upper roots.
- 5 Lower: 1 of lower incisors and roots, 1 of canines and premolars, 1 of lateral cow horn, 1 lateral access parrot beak and 1 frontal access parrot beak.
- Set of luxators (straight, wide and straight bladed), fine, medium and coarse. Set of 2 Winter Picks (right and left) with long and thin active part. You can also find the straight handles with the plastic handle, which are becoming more and more popular lately due to their comfort, lighter weight and also, with the sweat of the hand or even with the glove, they slip less than those with the metal handle (GNZ 133 to GNZ 137). As with the impression trays or the isolation kit, the forceps set is a highly demanded product by students, as it includes 11 of the most commonly used forceps, in a case that will allow you to have them always tidy and easy to carry.
- Buckets of different sizes for printing on children and rubber mouth-openers.
- Limes, millimetre ruler, gutta-percha, paper tips, condensers.
- Lighter.
- Scratchers or curettes of different types.
- Millimeter probe. Mainly you will use 2, the probe CP 12 (3-6-9-12mm) and the probe CP 11 (3-6-8-11 mm).
- Curettes by Gracey and Lucas.
- Syringe for anesthesia.
- Glasses for light curing.
For example, there are drills of different sizes and shapes (cylindrical, round... carbide and tungsten, diamond drills...) designed specifically for turbine or for use at low speed. Also, you can find in our section drills, both drills and cases to keep them, sterilize them in order without losing them and for everything related to endodontics, such as files, guttaperches and paper tips, links to the category endontic instruments.. Also, don't forget other materials such as the disposable materials, cotton rolls, applicators, gauzes, gloves, masks, bibs, ejectors, sutures, articular paper, or other frequently used such as topical or local anesthesia, cements or composites..
Occasionally, dental repositories prepare kits with rotary instruments, specially designed for dental students. At Dentaltix we have different Student Kits. Visit the section of rotary instruments designed for students especially.
4th and 5th Year. Perfecting your professional practices.
In the 4th year, you will be perfecting procedures and techniques that you have already implemented in previous years, the treatments can have greater complexity, as is the case of endodontics in multiradicular teeth and depending on your school, up to surgeries of palatal torus or surgeries of greater importance for which you will need even more specific instruments and materials..
The last year is usually exclusive for internships in some institutions or community service for example, to put into practice everything you have studied and improve even more, allowing you to become an expert in dental treatments that are more frequent in the dental office. As an example of these variations, some universities, in their curriculum, teach the subject of radiology in recent years, while in others, are taught in the second year. Even so, the list of instruments you will need will depend more on the chair you are taking and not so much on the number of years you are taking. Generally, at the end of the course, together with the professional practices of the last course, you will also carry out a research work or the development of a clinical case.
At this point, you will stop visiting the student section and start looking for specific instruments. You can have a look at the category instruments for surgery and periodontics or to our section of restoration and obturation.
Additional considerations.
We have designed this list of materials and instruments in a general way, however all this is in the hands of the curriculum in which you are and that may or may not coincide with that of your university, since each institution is different.
To conclude, we made a summary, with additional considerations that you could use in your favor to keep you as updated and educated as possible when it comes to instruments, materials and dental equipment.
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Study models
In the market, there are a great variety of study models that facilitate learning and understanding of the knowledge imparted, among them you can find artificial teeth, scale models of some molars in particular, models for mixed dentition studies, models for taking impressions for edentulous, models with certain pathologies and even phantoms, which are perfect for executing your practices under simulation strategies that fit more to the daily reality of caring for a patient. Learn more about the different typodonts we carry on our website and use them.
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Study plan in each university:
Depending on the subject you are taking, in each of them you will need one or other instruments or materials. You must know the curriculum of the university where you study and at the beginning of each academic year, each department or each professor in particular will give you instructions and recommendations on what instruments and materials you will use throughout your career and the professorship.
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Congresses, seminars, courses and events:
Attend courses, events, congresses, seminars and workshops in the dental sector, because going to them will keep you informed about successful clinical cases, as well as providing you with relevant information that will serve to instruct you and make better decisions when buying materials and instruments for your future clinic.
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Autoclave and curing light:
At the beginning, it is probable that the institution will offer you services of sterilization of instruments or loan of lamps to photopolymerize, in spite of it, keep in mind that later you will need to have your own autoclave to sterilize your instruments and one of the following Curing lamps
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Rotary instruments:
Invest in quality rotary instruments. Buying a turbine or a micro motor to get out of the hurry or save money, thinking that you will use it little is a decision to evaluate, because, if you invest in quality rotating instruments, you will execute treatments quickly and avoid problems in the course of your practice. Also, you must provide the appropriate maintenance to keep them in optimal conditions, because misuse or lack of maintenance of them, would mean a shorter lifespan. If you want to learn about how to maintain your rotary instruments, visit the article advice for maintaining your rotary instrument
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Clinic furniture:
Visualize the dental practice of your dreams, the color of the chair and stool, the new rotating instruments you will have for when you have become a professional. To help you in this task, we leave you the link for clinic furniture to delight yourself with the variety on our website.
If you are in doubt about which rotary instruments to buy, what material to use, or you have questions before choosing the instruments for your future practices, do not hesitate to visit our page with offers for students or write us an email hello@dentaltix.com and we will be able to make you a custom invoice, also you can consult us for offers to groups.
Make the most of your dental practices and, above all, stay up-to-date, as manufacturers of instruments, equipment and materials used by dentists are constantly evolving. To keep up to date or if you want to become one of the new professionals who likes to try new and technological things as far as dental trends and instruments is concerned, follow us on our social networks.