What is the dust and burning smell during tooth drilling?

[blubby10]

When I had my tooth prepped for a crown a few months ago, the dentist had to drill my tooth to shape it for the crown. While he was drilling, I think I smelt a burning smell and a lot of dust like particles were coming out of my mouth.

I was wanting to know in detail what this all was because I probably inhaled a lot of it and when I got home that day I developed a pretty intense face rash and other complications.

Thanks!

 

[Gordon]

It's dentine and enamel dust. You shouldn't really smell burning these days, we use lots of water spray and the assistant is meant to hoover it up.

Decayed dentine smells remarkably like burnt cheese, but again you shouldn't really smell it.