Luxators, Periotomes & Other Magic Wands - 1 !

Removing teeth as atraumatically as possible preserving the maximum possible surrounding bone is a relatively new idea. It was not always so. Some 20 odd years ago when I was a student, getting the tooth and the whole tooth out was the paramount objective. Never mind if you had to destroy the surrounding bone to do it and macerate the gingiva in the process . "Compress the socket walls" was a commandment !
How times have changed !
We no longer advocate "compressing the socket walls". In fact we attempt to preserve the original anatomy of the socket as much as possible. Multirooted teeth are carefully sectioned into individual roots and extracted preserving circumalveolar and interradicular bone. In progressive practices the dreaded "bayonet" has been banished to the nether regions of the remotest drawers !
As an oral surgeon I am glad this revolution has come about.Now oral surgeons can with honesty include themselves with "conservative dentists" and oral surgery has gone some way to be seen as part of 'conservative dentistry"
Even with all this paraphernalia extracting a tooth or root piece atraumatically isn't still a simple process. There are a wide variety of tools and a number of specialised instruments that are available to make the atraumatic extraction of teeth more predictable. Over the next few posts I shall try and describe the various tricks and tools that have been developed to make extractions more predictable.

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Dr.C.P.Mathai MDS
Oral Surgery, Dental Implants, Oral Reconstruction.
Restoring Smiles! Building Confidence!
http://www.implantsutra.com