Dr. Patel explains what each dental tool is used for

Fearful of the tools you see at the dentist? Fear no more! Dr. Patel explains how helpful these non-terrifying tools really are!

Hi, I'm Dr. Ricky Patel at the Boutique for Cosmetic Dentistry. Here at the Boutique, we know it can be kind of scary coming to the dentist at times, and the instruments can look frightening as well. So, my job today is to kind of go over everything with you, so you kind of know exactly what to expect when you come to our office.

The first instrument we're going to go over is the mirror. We use this to look at teeth that are at the top, so we don't have to twist our back as much to look around.

Another instrument here, a lot of people call this "the pokey thing," we call it the explorer. It's used to look around the teeth, check the teeth for cavities. And the teeth have little grooves in them, which can often be difficult to instrument inside, so we use a really small instrument to kind of get inside those.

The other side of this instrument is called the probe. This is what we'll use during your cleaning visits to check around the gums to make sure they're healthy and make sure that the bone is where it's supposed to be.

And the final instrument here. We call these "the pick-ups." It's used to grab little things from inside the mouth, like cotton rolls and anything that might have dropped, so we can pick those up easily, without having to put our fingers inside.

The next time you're here in our office, if there's any instruments that you're curious about, just ask us. We're happy to go over those with you.