Co-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) tools are currently employed in dental application for prosthesis fabrication. The deposition of a diamond coating onto WC-Co tools could allow both to increase the tool life and tool performance at higher speeds. However, at present it is very difficult to quantify the effective advantage of the application of a diamond coating onto dental tools compared to traditional uncoated tools. Therefore, in this work, we have deposited diamond coatings onto WC-Co dental tools having different geometries by Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition (HFCVD). Prior to deposition, the WC-Co tools were pre-treated in order to roughen the surface and to modify the chemical surface composition. The use of the HFCVD process enabled the deposition of a uniform coating despite the complex geometries of the dental mills. For the first time, in accordance to the knowledge of the authors, we have studied and compared the cutting behaviour of both virgin and diamond-coated dental tools by measuring both wear and cutting force time evolution under milling a very hard Co-Cr-Mo dental alloy. To ensure constant cutting rate (20,000-r.p.m. cutting rate, 0.01-m/min feed rate and 0.5-mm depth of cut), a proper experimental apparatus was used. Three different mill geometries were considered in both coated and uncoated conditions. The results showed that, under the high-speed conditions employed, uncoated tools underwent to catastrophic failure within a few seconds of machining. Diamond-coated tools exhibited much longer tool lives. Lower forces were measured when the coated tool was employed due to the much lower material-mill friction. The best behaviour was observed for coated mills with the presence of a chip-breaker. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.