carbide burs

did like you guy's said and asked my dentist if he had any burs to give away and he gave me about a hundred. all different sizes. thanks for the info!!!

Shawn

Great, The ones from my dentist are only used 1 time and that maybe for just a few seconds and there's plenty of diamond burs, better than the thrash...
JL Seymour

You guys must have good dentists; mine is tighter than bark on a tree and won't give up but 4 or 5.

Tim next time we see each other I'll share some with you...
I may be able to get to Hamlers before the summer is over...
SeeYa Soon,
JL Seymour

Not to be thick headed or nothin but if you get some of these things that have been sitting around for a long time, not sure if they've been cleaned or whatever, and you soak them in peroxide, will that kill anything mean enough to hurt you? Dwayne

Dwayne.
Bleach works better than peroxide I'm told.
But my dentist advises against using used burs because of the hazard of HIV, AIDS and hepititus.
She ejects her used burs directly into a hazardous waste recepticle and won't touch them even with gloved hands.
Same for one of my family members who is an RDA.
If you even scratch yourself with one of these used burs the cost of medical check-up and lost sleep is too high a price to pay.
Too much risk for too little savings IMO. $100 will probably buy you all the new burs you will ever need.
John B.

Using used dental burs,

Nah! There are good rational concerns about the spread of disease from contaminated instruments, but burs that have been used on patients can be reused if sterilized either by autoclave or by soaking in bleach. Have your dentist put the burs in a sterilizer bag and save them for you. (If you ask real nice, I bet he'll even run them through his ultrasonic cleaner and autoclave them too!) If not sterilized, when you get them home dump them directly into some bleach for a few minutes, then transfer them to a place to dry. If your really hyper about bugs you can pass the burs over a flame for a few seconds. Not so long as to damage the temper, just long enough to kill any "spore forming" bacteria. If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, then put the burs in a glass beaker with enough bleach to cover and put the beaker or jar into the ultrasonic for 10 mins. This will free-up any debris from the flutes. Viruses, like HIV and Hepatitis are actually easier to kill with the bleach than are some of the less common bacteria. In any case, you really don't need to be overly concerned with cross contamination, if you follow these simple rules and use some common sense (which as we all know, ain't common at all!)

Stay safe but not paranoid,

Mark

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll soak them in bleach. Dwayne

My dentist always tells me "these have been sterilized" when he gives me some.