Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
AND
POLISHING
CONTENTS
Introduction
Objectives of finishing and polishing
Finishing, cutting, grinding and polishing procedures
Finishing and polishing instruments
Hardness of abrasives
Abrasive instrument design
A) Abrasive grits
Type of abrasives
B) Bonded abrasives
Finishing burs
Diamond instruments
C) Coated abrasive disks and strips
D) Cloth and felt
Abrasive and erosive wear,
Other finishing procedures
Microabrasion and macroabrasion
Burnishing,
Finishing of different restorative materials
Amalgam
Composite
Glass ionomer cement
Direct gold restorations
Cast gold restorations
Porcelain
Health hazards of finishing and polishing
References
Conclusion.
Introduction :
The main objective of an operative dentist is to restore the individual
tooth to its form and functions along with imparting pleasing esthetics and
maintaining periodontal tissue in good esteem. It has been established that
rough or uneven surfaces initiate microbial flora to flourish and also light
reflected by these surfaces may not be even and uniform. Therefore a
restored tooth should be evenly smooth and reflect light uniformly. The
process of making the surface smooth is known as finishing and polishing.
Finishing is defined as the transformation of an object from a rough to
a refined form. The procedure involves removal of surface irregularities and
shaping the restoration according to functional occlusan polishing is defined
as the production of a shiny mirror like surface, which reflects light similar
to enamel.
Objective of Finishing and Polishing :
The objective of finishing and polishing of any restoration are
obtaining adequate adaptation and continuity of the restoration. Margins,
with the tooth, optimum restoration contour, proper occlusal contacts and a
surface free of any scratches or irregularities to make it biologically
acceptable. All these objectives lay the foundation for optimum oral health
function and esthetics.
i) Oral health: a well contoured and polished restoration will have
reduction in total surface area and reduced roughness of the restoration
surface which promotes the oral health by resting the accumulation of
food debris and pathologic bacteria. Smoother surfaces are easier to
maintain in a hygiene state when preventive oral home care is practiced.
With some restorations tarnish and corrosion activity can be
significantly reduced if the entire restoration is highly polished, which is
very important for the biocompatibilite property of a material.
ii) Oral function: Oral function is enhanced with a well polished
restoration because food glides more freely over occlusal and embrasure
surfaces during mastication.
Smooth restoration contacts, minimize wear rates on opposing and
adjacent teeth, which is particularly true for restorative materials such as
ceramics that contain phases that are harder than enamel and dentin.
Friction is the resistance to motion of one material body over another.
If an attempt is made to more one body over the other a restraining force to
resist motion is produced. The co-efficient of friction is reduced if the
surfaces are smooth and in single plane. Reduction in friction results in
reduction in wear which interns helps in longevity of restoration.
Rough material surfaces lead to the development of high-contact
stresses that can causes the loss of functional and stabilizing contacts
between teeth.
iii) Esthetics : Aesthetic demands may require the dentist to handle
highly visible surfaces of restorations differently than those that are not
accessible, Because.
When white light shines on a solid, some of the light is directly
reflected from the surfaces and remains white. This light is mixed with the
light reflected from the body of the material and dilutes the color.
As a result an extremely rough surface appears lighter than the
smooth surface of the same material. This problem is associated with
unpolished or worn glass ionomers and composite restorations.
The opacity, translucency and transparency of a dental material is
affected by the surface characteristic of the material.
Opacity is a property of materials that prevents the passage of light.
An opaque material may absorb some of the light and reflect the remainder.
For example the core material of porcelain is opaque it reflects yellow light
so it appears yellow.
Translucency is a property of substrate that prevents the passage of
light but disperses the light, so objects can’t be seen through the material.
Some translucent materials used in dentistry are ceramics, resins,
composites etc.
Transparent material allow the passage of light in such a manner that
little distortion takes place and objects may be clearly seen through them.
Finishing, Cutting, Grinding and Polishing Procedures :
Finishing can also be described as a process where by substrate
particles are removed by the action of cutting and or grinding. The surface
of the substrate in made to come in to frictional contact with a
comparatively harder material. This contact generates enough tensile and
shear stresses to over come the forces of atomic bonds and there by release
particles from the substrate.
In a cutting operation the substrate particles are, removed by the use
of a bladed instrument or any instrument in a blade like fashion. A grinding
operation on the other hand removes small particles of the substrate through
the action of bonded or coated abrasive instruments. These instruments
contain randomly arranged abrasive particles. Both cutting and grinding
procedures produce unidirectional scratches.
Polishing is the most refined process and acts on an extremely thin
region of the substrate surface. It procedures very fine scratches that can be
visible only under very high magnification.
Basically polishing is the process in which the polishing material
dos’t cut or grind, but fills fine scratches and procedures a perfectly smooth
surface. During the polishing of metals a highly stressed microcrystalline
layer is formed on the surface called the “Beilby layer”. It is believed that
because of the rapid movement of the polishing agent, top layer of the
material gets heated up causing it to flow and fill the scratches.
B) Bonded abrasives :.
Bonded abrasives consists of abrasive particles which are
incorporated through a binder to form grinding tools such as points, wheels,
separating disks and a wide variety of other abrasive shaper. Particles are
bonded by four general methods.
a) Sintering
b) Vitreous bonding (Glass or ceramic)
c) Resinoid bonding
d) Rubber bonding
Sintered abrasives are strongest type because the abrasive particles
are fused together
Vitreous bonded abrasive are mixed with a glassy or ceramic matrix
material, then cold presses to the instrument shape and finally fired to fuse
the binder.
Resin bonded abrasives are cold pressed or hot pressed and then are
heated to cure the resin. Rubber bonded abrasives are made similarly.
The type of bonding method employed for the abrasive greatly affects
the grinding behaviour of the tool on the substrate. An ideal binder holds the
abrasive particle is the tool sufficiently long enough to cut, grind or polish
the substrate, yet release the particles either before its cutting efficiency is
lost or before heat built-up causes thermal damage to the substrate.
A bonded abrasive instrument should always be trued and dressed
before its use.
Truing is a procedure through which the abrasive instrument is run
against the harder abrasive block until the abrasive instrument rotates in the
hand piece without eccentrically or runout when placed on a substrate.
The dressing procedure like truing is used to shape the instrument but
accomplishes two different purposes. First the dressing procedure reduces
the instrument to its correct working size and shape. Second it is used to
remove clogged debris from the abrasive instrument to restore grinding
efficiency during the finishing operation.
The clogging of abrasive instrument with debris is called abrasive
blinding, which results in reduction in abrasive efficiency and more heat
generation. So frequent dressing of the abrasive instrument during the
finishing operation on a truing instrument, maintains the efficiency of the
abrasive.
Diamond instruments are pre-shaped and trued so are not treated like
the bonded abrasives. Diamond clearing stones are used on the super coarse
through fine grades to remove debris build up and to maintain grinding
efficiency.
C) Coated abrasive disks and strips :
Coated abrasives are fabricated by securing abrasive particles to a
flexible backing material (heavy weight paper or Mylar) with a suitable
abrasive material. These abrasives typically are supplied as disks and
finishing strips.
D) Cloth :
Cloth carried on a metal wheel may be used for final polishing with
or without a polishing medium.
E) Rotary rubber instruments :
Rubber ended rotary tools are commonly used for polishing
procedures. They can be obtained in various shapes of cups, wheels, cones
etc. and are commonly used with other abrasives or polishing pastes.
ABRASIVE AND EROSIVE WEAR :
Wear is a material removal process that can occur whenever surfaces
slide against each other. In dentistry the process of finishing a restoration
involves abrasive wear through the use of hard particles. In case of a
diamond bur abrading a tooth surface, the diamond particles bonded to the
bur represent the abrasive and the tooth is the substrate.
It is important to observe the rotational direction of a rotary abrasive
instruments to control its action on the substrate surface when a hand piece
and bur are translated in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of
the bur at the surface being abraded, a smoother grinding action is achieved.
However when the hand piece and bur are translated in the same direction as
the rotational direction of the bur at the surface, the bur tends to “run away”
from the substrate, these by producing a more in controlled grinding action
and rougher surface.
Abrasive wear is further divided in to the processes of two body and
three body wear.
a) Two body wear: This occurs when abrasive particles are free to the
surface of the abrasive instrument and no other abrasive particles are
used.
Ex: A diamond bur abrading a tooth.
b) Three body wear: This occur when abrasive particles are bonded to
translate and rotate between two surfaces.
Dental prophylaxis which involves the use of a rotating rubber cup
and an abrasive paste on a tooth or a material surface is an example of a
three body wear.
Erosive wear :
Erosive wear is caused by hard particles impacting a substrate
surface, carried either by a steam of air or a steam of liquid. It is mainly
used in laboratories for grit blasting units that employ hard-particle erosion
to remove surface material.
A distinction must be made between this type of erosion and chemical
erosion, which involves chemicals such as acids and alkalies instead of hard
particles to remove substrate material, chemical erosion is commonly called
as acid etching.
CONCLUSION
A beautiful statue, even if it is Beautifully sculptured, if left
unfinished will attract no spectators. Similarly a dental restoration without
finishing and polishing will be unesthetic, but this is not the only problem it
will face. The effects are cumulative which will finally lead to its failure. So
why not spend a few more minutes of out precious time finishing and
polishing the restoration rather than see all our hard work go in vain.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATIVE DENTISTRY
AND ENDODONTICS
SEMINAR
ON
FINISHING AND
POLISHING OF DENTAL
MATERIALS