What are composite & plastic filling instruments?

Composite instruments place, condense and contour resin before cure. The recurring problem is pull — uncured composite sticks to steel and lifts away as the instrument is withdrawn. Titanium-nitride coated tips, offered here on several patterns, present a lower-friction surface that reduces that pull. Blade shapes divide into flat paddles for placement, condensers for packing, and pointed or bladed ends for contouring margins.

How the composite & plastic filling instruments range is organised

Woodson:

#1, #2 and #3 — paddle and plugger combinations, the general-purpose pattern.

Gregg:

#4/5 in standard steel and titanium-nitride gold tip.

PF series:

PF-3, PF-4, PF-4 titanium-nitride tip, PF-5 standard solid handle.

Paddle and condenser:

#3T paddle/condenser titanium nitride, #W3.

Ladmore:

Ladmore 3 in hollow and standard solid handles.

Choosing the right composite & plastic filling instrument

A Woodson and a Gregg cover most direct restorative work between them. Add a titanium-nitride tipped instrument if you place a lot of composite — the coating is not cosmetic, it measurably reduces material pulling back with the instrument. Keep composite instruments separate from amalgam instruments: residue transferred between the two discolours restorations.