The tri-spade drill for endosseous dental implant installation.

Many aspects of endosseous dental implant practice have been addressed over the past several decades. While most of this attention has centered on the dental implant body itself and, most recently, on various aspects of prosthetic restoration, the installation armamentarium for site preparation and implant placement has been neglected. Drills, in particular, have received minimal attention, with most drills currently used for implant placement being identical, or nearly identical, to century-old wood or metal cutting instruments. The tri-spade drill design represents an innovation that has evolved from analysis of currently used implant drills, drill mechanics, and the mechanical and physical properties of bone, in consideration of the clinical realities of contemporary endosseous implant placement. The tri-spade drill design, which features three cutting edges, is much more stable in the hands of the practicing clinician. It reduces crestal chatter upon entry into the bone site (a stable drilling situation), resulting in a more perfectly prepared final hole for placement of a cylindrical root-form dental implant. The drill tip angle is designed specifically for use with bone; the reaming action associated with the sharpened cutting edges adjacent to the large side flutes also allows for efficient debris removal. The tri-spade drill design represents an incremental increase in the dental implant armamentarium and efficacy for the installation of endosseous cylindrical dental implants.