Diamond Burs: The Precision "Brushes" in Dental Treatment
2025-09-14
I. Structure and Principle of Diamond Burs
Diamond bur usually consists of 2 parts : Shank and working part (As shown in Figure 1).
Figure 1: Structure Diagram of Diamond Burs
The shank is convenient for dentists to hold and operate, while the working part is the core component, which is composed of a metal matrix and diamond particles firmly attached to it.
Diamond, one of the hardest substances in nature, endows the bur with strong grinding ability. When the bur is installed on a dental handpiece and rotates at high speed, the diamond particles on its surface act like countless tiny cutting edges, enabling precise cutting, grinding, and shaping of hard tissues such as teeth and restorations—just like a painter's brush creating delicate works on teeth.
The working end comes in more than 20 shapes to meet the clinical needs of tooth preparation.
The diamond grains are evenly arranged, balancing cutting performance and chip removal.
The burs are measured by laser, ensuring excellent coaxiality and concentricity.
There are five color rings for easy identification of bur types and diamond particle sizes.
Two types of bur shanks are designed: high-speed and low-speed, for easy selection.
II. Diverse Types of Diamond Burs
The family of diamond burs is large and can be divided into various types according to different standards.
1.Classification by Shape: There are round-headed burs, flat-headed burs, flat-round-headed burs, conical burs, flame-shaped burs, etc. (as shown in Figure 2). Round-headed burs are suitable for grinding rounded areas, such as trimming the bottom of tooth cavities; flat-headed burs are often used for grinding flat surfaces, like smoothing the edges of restorations; conical burs excel in preparing conical cavity shapes for teeth or trimming tooth contours—for example, they can be used to expand the root canal orifice during root canal treatment; flame-shaped burs, due to their unique shape, perform well in carving the occlusal surface morphology of teeth.2.Classification by Diamond Particle Size:
- Coarse-grained diamond burs (125 - 150μm) are often marked with black or green color rings on the shank. They are suitable for the initial grinding stage where a large amount of tooth tissue or restorative material needs to be quickly removed, such as eliminating severely decayed tooth tissue.
- Standard diamond burs (106 - 125μm) are marked with blue color rings and are widely used in routine tooth preparation.
- Fine-grained diamond burs (53 - 63μm) are marked with red or colorless rings and are used for more precise grinding operations, such as the initial polishing of the restoration surface.
- Extra-fine-grained diamond burs (20 - 30μm) are marked with yellow or white color rings, mainly used for final fine adjustment and polishing, which can make the surface of teeth or restorations achieve an extremely high smoothness.
3.Classification by Function:
- Initial Grinding Burs: Adopting relatively coarse-grained diamonds (>150μm), they are used for large-scale cutting and rapid removal of excess tissue.
- Fine Grinding Burs: With a particle size of less than 40μm, they are used for fine adjustment and polishing of the prepared tooth surface to make the surface smoother.
- Short-shank Diamond Burs: Suitable for patients with a small mouth opening, especially for tooth preparation in the molar area, or for operations in the molar area of patients with abnormally thick buccal fat pads.
- Long-shank Diamond Burs: Can be used for tooth preparation in the gingival 1/3 area of teeth with longer clinical crowns, facilitating in-depth operations.
- Shoulder Preparation Burs: Uniquely designed with diamonds only on the top of their ends, they are specially used for trimming and preparing the cervical shoulder of teeth to ensure the precise shape and quality of the shoulder.
- Slender-neck Diamond Burs: Can ensure better exposure of the operating field, allowing tooth preparation to accurately transition to the deep dentin and minimizing damage to the tooth.
Figure 2: Diamond Burs of Different Shapes
III. Application Scenarios of Diamond Burs
- Dental Restoration Field: When filling a tooth, the dentist first uses a diamond bur to remove the decayed part of the tooth (as shown in Figure 3) and trims the cavity into an appropriate shape, creating good conditions for filling material placement. For tooth defects caused by trauma or other reasons, diamond burs can also be used for contour trimming to facilitate subsequent restoration operations. In the production of restorations such as porcelain teeth and all-ceramic teeth, diamond burs are even more indispensable—they are used for precise tooth preparation of natural teeth, grinding off an appropriate amount of tooth tissue to ensure that the restoration can fit closely and restore the aesthetics and function of the tooth.
- Dental Aesthetics: When patients are dissatisfied with the color of their teeth due to pigmentation caused by coffee, tea, tobacco, etc., diamond burs can be used to remove pigment deposits on the tooth surface and restore the natural color of the teeth. For minor defects on the tooth surface, such as unevenness and small protrusions, they can also be repaired through fine grinding with diamond burs, making the tooth surface smoother and enhancing aesthetics.
- Auxiliary in Periodontal Treatment: In periodontal treatment, it is sometimes necessary to smooth the root surface of the tooth to remove plaque, calculus, and diseased tissue on the root surface. Diamond burs can be used in conjunction with other periodontal instruments to help dentists complete this work more effectively to a certain extent and promote the healthy recovery of periodontal tissues.
Figure 3: Application of Diamond Burs in Dental Restoration
IV. Precautions for Using Diamond Burs
- Strict Sterilization: To avoid cross-infection, diamond burs must undergo strict disinfection and sterilization before each use. Professional methods such as high-temperature and high-pressure steam sterilization can be used to ensure that the burs are in a sterile state.
- Accurate Bur Selection: Dentists should accurately select diamond burs of the appropriate shape, particle size, and function according to specific treatment needs. For example, for fine tooth polishing, fine-grained or extra-fine-grained burs should be selected; while for removing a large amount of decayed tissue, coarse-grained initial grinding burs are required.
- Control of Operating Force and Rotation Speed: During the operation, dentists must strictly control the force and rotation speed. Excessive force may lead to excessive wear of tooth tissue and pulp damage; excessively high rotation speed will also generate excessive heat, which is equally harmful to pulp health. Generally, the rotation speed of diamond burs driven by high-speed handpieces is usually controlled at 300,000 - 400,000 revolutions per minute, and specific adjustments should be made according to the bur type and treatment situation. At the same time, a gentle and intermittent operation method should be adopted to avoid continuous pressure application.
- Timely Bur Replacement: Diamond burs will gradually wear out during use. When it is found that the grinding efficiency of the bur is significantly reduced and a large number of diamond particles fall off, the bur should be replaced with a new one in a timely manner to ensure the treatment effect and quality. Continuing to use severely worn burs will not only fail to achieve the expected cutting effect but also may cause unnecessary damage to teeth and surrounding tissues.
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