Dental Tools

Tools are only tools. They have no inherent moral quality, regardless of their intent of design.

It is a given that trips to the dentist are loathed. It is the fodder of hack comedians and polite conversation. I personally dislike the feeling of my teeth heating up under the friction of the motor driven tooth brush — most people I have talked to dislike the sets of metal picks and hooks that are used to scrape the crevices between the teeth.

This is certainly the closest most of us will ever come to torture. Few things inspire dread quite like the small tray of dental tools laid out in their glittering, wicked splendor.

At my last visit to the dentist, I had a particularly pleasant hygenist. I decided to ask for a set of old dental picks that were to be thrown out. I received a bag of four tools. I was delighted. I put them in my cargo pocket and they cut my leg as I was walking to the car.

I laid them out on my desk when I arrived home. Each one is a variation on the theme of hook. Some are thin and cruel, others are wide and crude. They are all scary. They are all nicely weighted, and feel like superior tools.

There is a process in jewelry making called lost wax casting. It involves creating a wax model of what you intend to cast, and by pouring and setting plaster around that wax model and then melting the wax out, you create a perfect mold for casting. Good tools are essential for crafting a wax model worth casting.

Hopefully within the week I will be able to take a trip to the local jewelry supply store. I will purchase some blue hard wax, and begin to craft rings for casting, like I used to in high school. The dental picks will be perfect for manipulating and picking at my work until it reaches my standards.

— Dan Norton)