dentist's drill
1
3.7
- noun
- /ˈdɛntɪsts drɪl/
- Specialized
:
taladro dental
- The dentist used a high-speed dentist's drill to clean out the cavity in my molar.
- sound of a dentist's drill
Examples
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Many patients dread the sound of the dentist's drill when they visit the clinic.
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A dentist's drill is something that most everyone wants to avoid, but until recently, it has been a necessity to perform general and cosmetic dental procedures.
Blog text (32) -
Unlike a traditional dentist's drill, the Waterlase laser does not utilize heat or unpleasant vibrations during dental procedures.
Blog text (32) -
The dentist's drill is actually fairly effective at scaring the crap out of us, as far back as the days of radio horror, and as a tool of fear, it's probably second only to the lurking suspicion that your dentist might, some terrible day, try to feed you a banana.
Blog text (14) -
Before starting the procedure, the dentist explained how the dentist's drill would be used to treat my tooth.
Synonyms
A small fast drill dentists use to cut and shape teeth
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
dentist's + drill
The meaning 'a drill used by a dentist' is directly and transparently derived from 'dentist's' (belonging to a dental practitioner) + 'drill' (a tool), so a learner who knows both words can infer the referent. The possessive noun + tool composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English noun phrase patterns, making it accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Dentist's drill is a name that creates the clear picture of a dentist using a small, fast tool called a drill. The dentist's part shows who uses it, and the drill turns very fast and makes a sharp whine while it cuts a tooth, so the phrase means 'the fast tool dentists use to cut teeth and prepare cavities'.