Vacalon Panther Shape, Knife-Edge 26 × 2 mm · 1 polisher

• Flexible Silicone Polishers — The abrasive is embedded in a flexible silicone body.
• Polishing Wheels — A wheel for the smoothing steps that follow grinding.
• Grinding Wheels — The coarse step: it shapes the work and removes excess material.
• Mounted Rubber Points — A rubber-bonded point already fixed on its own shank.
• Ceramic & Porcelain Polishers — Polishes the ceramic itself, in place of a glaze layer.
• Polishing Discs — The finer steps of the same series.
• Buffing Wheels — Carries the polishing agent to the work.
• Mounted Stones — A rigid bonded abrasive, for grinding and shaping.
• Separating & Cut-Off Discs — A thin wheel for cutting, where an abrasive disc works on its side.
• Composite Polishers — Made for resin composite.
• Acrylic Polishers & Trimmers — Made for denture acrylic, which is finished with burs, sandpaper and rubber wheels before it is polished.
• Abrasive Discs — Grinds and smooths with its face.
• Finishing Carbides — A bur made to finish a surface.
• Polishing Points & Cups — Rubber points, felt cones and bristle pins.
• Rotary Points — Silicone, rubber and polyurethane polishers.
• Heatless Wheels — Radial bristle discs and wheels, knife-edge discs and rubber abrasive cones, filed under the heatless wheels name.

Sequence: a review describes polishing in three stages, coarse finishing, intermediate polishing and final polishing. Coarse tools shape the work and remove excess material; medium ones smooth out the grooves and scratches the coarse ones leave.

Surface: 0.2 micrometres of roughness is considered the threshold for a clinically acceptable restoration.

Speed: OSHA's abrasive-wheel rule has the spindle speed checked against the maximum operating speed marked on the wheel.

Reuse: the CDC states that burs, polishing points and rag wheels used on contaminated appliances or prostheses should be heat-sterilised, disinfected between patients, or discarded.