17 Dental Spoon Excavator 1.2 mm, Fine-Blade Double-Ended Caries Removal Instrument

The 17 dental spoon excavator is the fine-blade instrument in the numbered series, carrying a 1.2 mm spoon that is the same blade diameter as the E1 but in the numbered series shank geometry. The clinical cases where the 1.2 mm blade is the correct choice over the more commonly used 1.5 mm instruments are specific: preparations in small teeth or in teeth where the pulp chamber is unusually large relative to the remaining dentin thickness, deep carious lesions in posterior teeth where the remaining dentin over the pulp is estimated to be 1 mm or less, and conservative preparation designs in anterior teeth where the cavity width at the preparation floor is too narrow for a 1.5 mm blade to be seated without contacting both walls.

In deep caries excavation near the pulp, the #17 provides a meaningful safety margin over the #18. When the remaining dentin depth over the pulp is 0.5 to 1.0 mm, a 1.5 mm blade contacting the preparation floor applies force over a larger area than a 1.2 mm blade. The smaller contact area of the #17 reduces the total lateral force transmitted to the dentin floor per stroke, which matters in terms of both perforation risk and the clinician’s ability to feel the changing hardness of the dentin as the excavation approaches the pulp. The tactile feedback through a 1.2 mm spoon in this zone is more localised and therefore more informative than through a wider blade that averages the resistance across a larger tissue area. Medical-grade stainless steel, autoclavable.

Product Features

• 17 dental spoon excavator finest 1.2 mm blade in the numbered series for precise caries removal in small or deep preparations
• Localised 1.2 mm contact area provides more precise tactile feedback on dentin hardness than a wider blade when working near the pulp
• Correct selection over the #18 when preparation width or proximity to pulp makes a 1.5 mm blade too wide
• Double-ended mirror-image spoons for bilateral preparation access from one instrument
• Medical-grade stainless steel, corrosion resistant, fully autoclavable

17 vs 18 and 19: The only 1.2 mm blade in the numbered series. Selected over the 1.5 mm #18 when working in smaller preparations or near the pulp where a wider blade risks removing sound dentin or perforating a thin dentin floor. The #19 at 2.0 mm is for large preparations and bulk excavation.