Dental Elevators And Their Uses

Dental Elevators are used to loosen and ‘elevate’ the teeth in their sockets prior to extraction. Care should be taken to avoid causing damage/trauma to nearby teeth while using elevators.

In this article show

PARTS OF AN DENTAL ELEVATOR

Working end

The working end is functional, elevating and retracting end of the elevator
Single-ended
The working end is adapted to the function of the instrument

Shank

The area between the working end and the handle
The shank may be straight or angled for easy access to some areas in the mouth
The shank may also have a finger rest to enable the operator to get a better grip and apply more force

Handle

The part of the instrument that the operator
Designed for stability and leverage
The handle can be of many different varieties (i.e. serrated, smooth, hollow, solid, octagonal, round, large, small)
The function dictates the type of handle

3 TYPES OF DENTAL ELEVATOR

Warwick James elevator – straight, Warwick James elevators – left and right
Couplands chisel
Cryers elevators – left and right.

1. Warwick James elevator – straight and Warwick James elevators – left and right

Uses and features

Used to elevate and loosen the tooth from the periodontal ligament
The elevation is done to create space and prevent trauma to adjacent teeth and tissues
Available as left and right elevators, designed to adapt to the mesial and distal aspects of the tooth, respectively. Always used as a pair

False friends

Couplands chisel, Mershon band pusher

2. Couplands chisel

Uses and types

Used to elevate and loosen the tooth from the periodontal ligament
The elevation is done to create space and prevent trauma to adjacent teeth and tissues
Available in sizes 1, 2 and 3 – working end gets larger with an increase in size number

False friends

Warwick James straight elevator, Warwick James left and right elevators, Mershon band pusher.