Still very confused about extraction forceps!

I can honestly say that 9 years in extraction forceps are still a mystery to me! I just hope for the best! I'm sorry your colleagues are being so unsupportive but I can promise you we're not all like that! Fortunately dentists do seem to have their favourites so over time you should sort of get used to it/be able to blag it!
Good luck, sorry I'm not more help!

Beak to Cheek !!!
I say in it my head every single time I get the forceps.

It takes time but it will come...
Everyone has to start somewhere. And the person that is not helping you also had to learn them once!

Sorry to hear you haven't had much support. The suggestions of looking in dental catalogues is good. First try to distinguish which is upper and lower. Lowers will be bent so easier to get to, uppers will be straight. When picking your forcep try to remember to the tooth anatomy. Single roots tend to have a () shape to them. Molars will tend to have { } so the beak part sits in between the roots. The upper molars have 3 roots. 2 of which are placed cheek side. { ). ( } So which ever side you require remember beak to cheek. For your upper 8's there are bayonets which are straight but designed to get to back easier. You then have your fancy forceps which tend to come in tricky situations.
Don't but pressure on yourself you will get there. Just try to remember how the forcep works and knowing your tooth anatomy will help. Sorry for the brackets by now I would be scribbling on paper and helping you visualise if you were one of my student nurses. I've been going 19 years and still have to remember which is right and left. Good luck sorry if I've confused you more!

Like you, I struggle seriously with knowing which forceps to use, but unlike you, I have great support from my vastly experienced colleagues and the dentist I work with! No doubt your practice gets hundreds of catalogues with supplies. See if you can find one that has a page of forceps and tells you which is for which tooth.

One of my workmates tore a page out of an ordering catalogue, and taped it on a cabinet door over the forceps drawer. This has been invaluable to me, and I constantly refer to it. If it makes you feel better, I have a colleague who has been a nurse for over 10 years and still can't remember which is which. I shall follow this thread with interest as additional clues are useful.

Hey!! Don't worry, you'll figure them out!! Here is a website where you have all of them together. Have a look and study them in your own time...
www.zonadent.com
you'll find all dental instruments in one website with description and pics

Hi,

Getting to grips with forceps can get a little confusing as most dentist have their prefered forceps

anterior forceps are know as straight and they look just like that
molar forceps have one smooth side and one beaked side just like you said and the ditty goes ''beak to cheek''

so for the right side the forcep will have the beak on the right side and for the left side the forcep will have the beak on the left side.

you could take a photocopy of the page from levison that shows you forceps and keep it with you or near to where the forceps are kept should help.

dont worry you will get there we all do.

good luck

I'm a trainee, and trying to grasp this. My colleagues haven't been supportive, and have made me feel stupid when i've asked more than once, as if i'm instantly supposed to know them after being told once!


Is there a distinguishable feature of each tooth group type of forceps?? Or is it just random and dependent on brand?? Cos just when i thought i was learning a common feature of each (or example, root forceps having more elongated beaks, and no gap between the tips), i'd see a pair at my practice, or a photo in a textbook, that totally confused me again (like seeing root forceps that had quite fat beaks, and a sizable gap, and to me looked more like molar forceps). Another one that's confusing me a lot is the difference between universals, and anteriors.

What i *thought* i'd learnt, was:

Molars = have a smooth beak, and then one with a little spike/point on the opposite beak
Anteriors = have the smallest gap between tips (apart from root forceps), and are smooth beaked
Roots = smooth, elongated beak, and no gap between tips
Premolars = ??? struggle with finding a distinguishing feature to these, but i guess just a narrower, smaller version of molar forceps?

But when i'm handed a pair of "lower universals" by a senior nurse at work and going by my distinguishing features guide, they look more like root forceps (narrow elongated beak, and no gap between tips), it totally confuses me again. I mean if nothing is set in stone with each type and it's all interchangable and dependant on brand or whatever, when how am i supposed to make sense of them??

Please only reply if you want to help, i've had enough sarky comments about this already.