The Great White® Ultra Bur — Ideal for crown preparation. Experience a unique carbide bur specifically designed to offer a fast and smooth alternative to diamonds.
Great White Ultra burs are designed to provide high speed with minimal clogging.
Great White Ultra burs are specifically designed as an alternative to diamonds. According to SS White, the burs cut quickly and smoothly through enamel and also through amalgam and other restorative materials with minimal clogging and stalling. The 3 dentists who evaluated the Great White Ultra burs gave them high marks for their ability to cut through different substrates during crown preparation.
Cutting Smoothness and Speed According to the manufacturer, because the Great White Ultra burs are more dentated than crosscut burs, they cut more quickly with less vibration when cutting through tooth structure and restorative materials. Using a scale of 1 to 5, all evaluators agreed that cutting smoothness and speed are very important when purchasing a bur. When asked to review the cutting smoothness and speed of the Great White Ultra Burs, 2 of the 3 dentist evaluators rated them very good to excellent. However 1 evaluator rated them as fair. SS White claims that the burs effectively and efficiently remove amalgam, composite resin, cast gold, and direct gold restorations that need replacement. The 3 evaluators rated the Great White Ultra burs good to excellent for their ability to cut through different substrates.
Ease of Use and Effectiveness When asked about ease of use (rated important to very important as a characteristic), the evaluators rated the Great White Ultra burs good to excellent. One evaluator, however, noted that he is “used to using diamonds for crown preps” and that a learning curve is associated with switching from diamonds to carbide burs. Two of the evaluators rated the Great White Ultra burs good on effectiveness, while the third rated them as excellent. One evaluator commented: “The burs cut extremely well, but lost effectiveness after 2 uses and autoclaving.” Another noted that the burs were “excellent for finish line.”
Finish Line Definition The dentists were asked to evaluate the finish line definition of the Great White Ultra burs. After rating finish line definition as an important to very important characteristic when purchasing carbide burs, all 3 rated it as excellent. One of the evaluators said that the finish line definition is “outstanding” and another evaluator said that the burs provided “smooth, well-defined margins.”
Crown Retention When asked about the facilitation of crown retention of the Great White Ultra burs, the evaluators had varying opinions. One rated it as very good, another rated it as good, and the third rated it as fair. One of the evaluators said that the crown retention was “almost too parallel” and another said that “the preparations were only slightly roughened to aid in retention, slightly better than other carbides, but not as rough as diamonds.” When asked about the importance of crown retention as a characteristic when purchasing carbide burs, 2 evaluators said they were neutral. The evaluator who said that it is an important characteristic is the same evaluator who rated Great White Ultra very good in terms of crown retention.
Price After rating price as very important to 2 evaluators and important to 1 when choosing carbide burs, the evaluators were asked to rate price. The evaluator who said that price is important reported that the Great White Ultra Burs are “a bit pricy.” However, the 2 evaluators who listed price as very important when purchasing carbide burs said that the price was very good.
Final Analysis All 3 of the dentist evaluators use carbide burs in their practices at least once a week. All 3 dentist evaluators also ranked repeat purchase experience as an important characteristic when purchasing carbide burs. After their evaluation of the Great White Ultra burs, they said that they would probably recommend them to their colleagues and purchase them in the future. All evaluators agreed that quality is very important (all ranked at importance level 5) to consider when purchasing burs, and when asked about their overall satisfaction for SS White’s Great White Burs, and when asked about their overall satisfaction with these carbide burs, 2 evaluators rated them as very good and 1 rated them as excellent.
