got formalin?

[2school4cool]

i think there was a post awhile back concerning teeth collection... but i dont recall if it listed the specifications about formalin. anyways i'm too lazy to look it up.

SO! i was a wonderin if anybody know what % formalin we need for teeth collection? i have access to formalin for the next month or so and i think that's good motivation for me to start doing the teeth thing.

anywho...is it 10% formalin? and can i dilute with plain H20 or i've heard rumors of it having to be mineral oil so the teeth don't dry out? what the heck is mineral oil anyways and where is it sold? it sounds... um sticky.

also! does it hurt to not use bleach to disinfect them and just dump into formalin straight away? i don't think my os (or well his assistant) will want to keep track of bleach bottles and formalin.

weee! can't wait to have a bottle of teeth decorating my bookshelf... like that won't scare any non predent.

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[preOMFS]

We use cavicide at my office due to the toxicity of formaldehyde.

 

[Mrbubbles]

hey great thread
i actually had a question about this too.

i put all my freshly extracted teeth (the patients of course) into diluted bleach...

my dentist said "yeah just take it out, rinse, and put it in a jar"

but ...won't the teeth breakdown?? so what do u recommend we put it in if we don't have access to formaldehyde..cavicide is ok? i won't be using it until 1-2 yrs..

 

[lhtran07]

I've got my collection in a 1:1 (reagent alcohol:glycerin) solution.

You can also do a 10:1 water:bleach solution and add glycerin so that the teeth don't dry out and become brittle.

I also have access to 10% buffered formalin, but if you're leaving it at a dentist's office so they can collect for you, they prefer to use the alcohol or diluted bleach solution since it's not as toxic.

 

[HermeyScrivello]

Baby oil is mineral oil + perfume.
Formalin is water + formaldehyde, so adding more water shouldn't be a problem.
For sanitation, the formalin should do the job. Bleach is overkill unless it has a special purpose.
I work for a pathology lab and all of our specimens go straight in 10% formalin....
but do what the school tells you.

 

[lhtran07]

Baby oil is mineral oil + perfume.
Formalin is water + formaldehyde, so adding more water shouldn't be a problem.
For sanitation, the formalin should do the job. Bleach is overkill unless it has a special purpose.
I work for a pathology lab and all of our specimens go straight in 10% formalin....
but do what the school tells you.

Me too! Don't you just love the days when you get 5 colons back to back and have to stand there doing node dissections half the day?

UT says to put the extracted teeth in a diluted bleach solution, but the oral surgeon that's collecting the teeth for me says to put it in an alcohol+glycerin solution. So I mixed up a bottle of alc+glyc to drop off at the office, and once I get all the teeth collected, I'm dropping it in formalin to disinfect.

 

[Mrbubbles]

i am a predent so please excuse my "what may see ridiculous" questions

where can i get glycerin or formalin? is there a "store/product/common name" they go by? cuz maybe it is on the shelves at the office i work out..

hmm...i just wanna make sure cuz my teeth are still sitting in diluted bleach...afraid to air dry them incase they get brittle.

 

[lhtran07]

Glycerin you can pick up at Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, etc. I went to WalMart and saw some bottles so I picked up a couple while I was there.

Formalin is not a household product. So you can't get a hold of it unless the dentist's office you're collecting from stocks it (or if you work in a lab that uses it).

 

[DSpagnoli]

i think there was a post awhile back concerning teeth collection... but i dont recall if it listed the specifications about formalin. anyways i'm too lazy to look it up.

SO! i was a wonderin if anybody know what % formalin we need for teeth collection? i have access to formalin for the next month or so and i think that's good motivation for me to start doing the teeth thing.

anywho...is it 10% formalin? and can i dilute with plain H20 or i've heard rumors of it having to be mineral oil so the teeth don't dry out? what the heck is mineral oil anyways and where is it sold? it sounds... um sticky.

also! does it hurt to not use bleach to disinfect them and just dump into formalin straight away? i don't think my os (or well his assistant) will want to keep track of bleach bottles and formalin.

weee! can't wait to have a bottle of teeth decorating my bookshelf... like that won't scare any non predent.

Just have the teeth put in a standard 1:10 bleach solution. Simple, done.I had my teeth stored like that for over a year and no problems using a high speed on them for preps.

 

[bigstix808]

the letter(s) from my accepted dschool state to use 1:10 bleach for teeth w/o amalgam and 10% formalin for teeth w/.

thats what i got for my OS and Gen dent in separate bottles. they didn't mind so...

i got the bleach from walmart and the formalin from an ichthyologist at the school i teach at. you can also buy that stuff for about $40 per 3-4 Liters.

 

[AlwaysImproving]

The dentist told me I have to do nothing, just tell her which day I will go pick the teeth up and she will give it to me in a fresh container with the solution and it will be also sealed and ready to go 😀😀
It will be 1 yr's worth of teeth 😀 Btw, she does extractions, so you can imagine how many teeth I will get. I am too happy, I love her hehehe

 

[Quattro DMD]

I work in a surgical pathology lab and we use a 10% buffered formalin solution that's ~4% formaldehyde, and that stuff is toxic as hell! I want to just take some so I can start collecting teeth but I'm pretty sure it's illegal to steal that stuff from the hospital.lol

 

[2school4cool]

cool beans. y'all are my heroes. 😍