Hey guys, Its great to be in the club. I recieved my acceptance letter recently and it has a letter saying that i must collect a few hundred teeth for dental school. Can i just go to a few random dental clinics and ask for some? Also, do we need all of the 200 or so by 1st semester? thanx
Collecting teeth?
- Thread starter jchen8
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WOW! 200? We just need to collect 30-40. I just went to my dentist and gave him a copy of the memo I recieved telling me to collect some teeth. It was pretty easy. But if you need 200, I suggest to go to 4 or 5 clinics.
Good Luck
Good Luck
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Start collecting your teeth as soon as possible. You won't use them the first semester at MCG, but you won't be able to get any in Augusta either. All of the dentists in town have already promised their extractions to either students or the school.
Just ask the local dentists (especially oral surgeons); most of them will be happy to help.
Just ask the local dentists (especially oral surgeons); most of them will be happy to help.
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it doesn't hurt if you collect more. Start collecting them, sterilize and then play with them. Look at the morphology of each tooth. That will come in handy sometimes. I did that last year, and it helps in my morphology class.
Congrats on your dental school acceptance. Where will you martriculate? MCG?
Congrats on your dental school acceptance. Where will you martriculate? MCG?
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it's usually a 1:10 dilution (bleach:h2O)
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Do not use bleach, as bleach does not reserve the integrity of the teeth structure or pulp. Store them in listerine solution, and gamma radiated the whole bottle. Most hospital has gamma radiation equipment. Just go there and ask, the radiology department might be able to help you with it.
After teeth are sterilized, clean them well, and continue to store them in listerine solution. Dentin will crack if you leave them out dry.
Good luck
After teeth are sterilized, clean them well, and continue to store them in listerine solution. Dentin will crack if you leave them out dry.
Good luck
Super!
I got 16, 17, 18, 11, and K! All today.....woo hoo! Collecting all 32, its like a collectors set!
So right now i have them in 1:10 bleach solution. I do not exactly have access to gamma radiation.....will they be okay in this solution? Does it matter if they dry out? What do they want the teeth for anyway. I figure if they are for ID and morphology it shouldn't matter if they are dry....
Wathca think?
I got 16, 17, 18, 11, and K! All today.....woo hoo! Collecting all 32, its like a collectors set!
So right now i have them in 1:10 bleach solution. I do not exactly have access to gamma radiation.....will they be okay in this solution? Does it matter if they dry out? What do they want the teeth for anyway. I figure if they are for ID and morphology it shouldn't matter if they are dry....
Wathca think?
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Thanks for all this info--I know NOTHING about collecting teeth, but this is pretty cool stuff.
If people don't find enough teeth do classmates typically share, or are all the teeth combined into one big pool and then divied out among everybody?
If people don't find enough teeth do classmates typically share, or are all the teeth combined into one big pool and then divied out among everybody?
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You can use them for ID but ours are mostly used for operative and later on in endo.
Well I'll be,
They've been in 1:10 bleach solution for about 3 hours now. Maybe tomorrow i'll switch them over to water. I figure they should keep well enough in water shouldn't they?
Maybe i'll run them in the ultrasonic with efferedent before placing them in water.
They've been in 1:10 bleach solution for about 3 hours now. Maybe tomorrow i'll switch them over to water. I figure they should keep well enough in water shouldn't they?
Maybe i'll run them in the ultrasonic with efferedent before placing them in water.
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I agree with the listerine. That's what we use at Buffalo to store extracted teeth.
Listerine is better than Bleach because of ease of handling-- 10% Bleach is not going to do much to the teeth, but you have to be careful not to spill any on yourself and ruin your clothes. And listerine is better than water because it's more isotonic (water is hypotonic).
In addition to using the extracted teeth to learn how to ID teeth, they are good too for preclinic endo when you practice doing root canals on them, and it pays to have a large collection to choose from-- Keep the easy ones for yourself and give the marginal ones to classmates who don't have teeth but need them.
HTH!
Listerine is better than Bleach because of ease of handling-- 10% Bleach is not going to do much to the teeth, but you have to be careful not to spill any on yourself and ruin your clothes. And listerine is better than water because it's more isotonic (water is hypotonic).
In addition to using the extracted teeth to learn how to ID teeth, they are good too for preclinic endo when you practice doing root canals on them, and it pays to have a large collection to choose from-- Keep the easy ones for yourself and give the marginal ones to classmates who don't have teeth but need them.
HTH!
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Well, formalin isn't exactly easy to find.. 
Listerine will do fine. You can switch it to formalin later on if your school is willing to provide it to you.
Also for handling reasons I prefer not to use formalin... It does have carcinogenic potential you know.
Listerine will do fine. You can switch it to formalin later on if your school is willing to provide it to you.
Also for handling reasons I prefer not to use formalin... It does have carcinogenic potential you know.
D
dientesfuertes
Bleach is not going to hurt the "integrity" of your extracted teeth. They're usually just for identification exercises and basic operative. It's not like you're trying to preserve them to be placed back into a patient's mouth.
Besides, what do you think they spray into an endodontically-treated tooth? Plain old, ordinary bleach. Good luck.
Besides, what do you think they spray into an endodontically-treated tooth? Plain old, ordinary bleach. Good luck.
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this is what the endo faculty at ucsf instructed us in terms of teeth collection:
"It is safe to store teeth in a solution of household bleach (1 part bleach : 4 parts tap water), in a glass or rigid plastic container."
however, i know that ucla says teeth should be stored in 10% formalin (which can be ordered from the chemical supplier they recommended).
seems like many different storage forms are acceptable. best bet would be to email the appropriate faculty at your school to see what the standard is at your specific school.
"It is safe to store teeth in a solution of household bleach (1 part bleach : 4 parts tap water), in a glass or rigid plastic container."
however, i know that ucla says teeth should be stored in 10% formalin (which can be ordered from the chemical supplier they recommended).
seems like many different storage forms are acceptable. best bet would be to email the appropriate faculty at your school to see what the standard is at your specific school.
