autoclaved teeth

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

zebrafish

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
115
Reaction score
1
Here's the deal: one of the dentists I shadowed for has been collecting teeth for me and when he gave them to me they were all bagged and autoclaved. Can I still use these? I don't want to be rude and make more requests, but I don't want him to waste his time autoclaving teeth that I can't use. I know that they are supposed to stored in a bleach solution, but I don't want to throw away all these teeth.
Thanks

Members don't see this ad.
 
Here's the deal: one of the dentists I shadowed for has been collecting teeth for me and when he gave them to me they were all bagged and autoclaved. Can I still use these? I don't want to be rude and make more requests, but I don't want him to waste his time autoclaving teeth that I can't use. I know that they are supposed to stored in a bleach solution, but I don't want to throw away all these teeth.
Thanks

I don't believe autoclaving them will ruin them...why not call your school and ask them what type (mixture) of bleach mixture to put them in? Autoclaving them is going to serve the same purpose as bleaching them isn't it? If you throw them in the bleached solution that your school recommends, then you should be all good.
 
Thanks for your input, I know that autoclaving them has the same disease prohibiting qualities, I just didn't know if they would be too brittle to drill. Do you think that they would break?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
according to a pamphlet by the American Student Dental Association (called the Tooth Collecion Toolbox), the only two acceptable methods of sterilization for teeth are autoclaving and formalin immersion.

however, i have read somewhere on this forum that autoclaving teeth renders them brittle and useless.

i don't think that you should throw away those teeth.
 
This is what they tell us at BU:

The formula to preserve the extracted teeth:
1. To disinfect the teeth, dilute house hold bleach in 1:5 (1part bleach + 4 parts water) and soak for 2-3 days (concentrated bleach will dehydrate the teeth resulting fracture easily).

2. To preserve the teeth, keep them in a mixture of following solution: 2 parts of bleach + 3 parts of glycerin (from cvs or Walgreen skin care section) + 5 parts of water.

3. Keep the teeth in a sealed container with moist after mounting (in lab).
 
we are told that autoclave teeth are not good to work on. They are still useful for contact teeth and practicing sealants. Here we all must store all teeth in a phenol solution that is provided by the school for two weeks before we can work with them.
 
From my own experience, I would avoid using bleach at or at least too much of it because it outrageously whitens them making them somewhat difficult to cut on when doing your operative (fillings, especially composites) exercises.

Hydrogen peroxide whitens them to a more natural color (since extracted teeth are sometimes really nasty and dingy colored) and will break down into oxygen and water, stopping further bleaching. Then use isopropyl alcohol to help keep the teeth disinfected (they tend to grow green fuzzy stuff if left without some kind of antimicrobial).

Glycerin works very well at keeping the teeth from cracking.
 
according to a pamphlet by the American Student Dental Association (called the Tooth Collecion Toolbox), the only two acceptable methods of sterilization for teeth are autoclaving and formalin immersion.


Why does the OP want them sterile? They are going to be used for practicing dentistry, so throw on some gloves and practice dentistry!
 
Top