The nonexpendable items used by the dentist or dental staff in the performance of professional duties. (From Boucher's Clinical Dental Terminology, 4th ed, p106)
That phase of clinical dentistry concerned with the restoration of parts of existing teeth that are defective through disease, trauma, or abnormal development, to the state of normal function, health, and esthetics, including preventive, diagnostic, biological, mechanical, and therapeutic techniques, as well as material and instrument science and application. (Jablonski's Dictionary of Dentistry, 2d ed, p237)