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[Yokohoma84]

Hello, I just got a letter from dental school confirming my deposit they received. With it, there was another letter that says to collect "properly preserved, extracted human teeth procured form dentists in your locality." Does anyone know how many teeth this means, also do I just let them chill in my room or refrigerator til dental school starts? Just seems kind of wierd but I guess it must be normal. Also, it gives me two options to get them cleaned: 1. do them yourself by scrubbing and washing with detergent at home. or 2. use an ultrasonic cleaner. Do dentists have an ultrasonic cleaner so that I can just ask them if they can possibly do it for me? Let me know what you guys are doing and what you think I should do, thank you.

 

[adr12]

I've got a couple sitting at home in some bleach. I'm not sure if that is "properly" preserved or not, but it should kill anything harmful.

 

[Pesed]

I would definately contact the university about their preferred method of preservation. I'm not sure the bleach is a good idea- it may affect the integrity of the teeth. My friends work with teeth and they store them in alcohol. Good luck!

 

[I'mFillingFine]

Yeah, bleach wouldn't be good for the longterm. Whenever my dad extracted a new tooth, he put it in a gentle bleach solution (maybe 10%?) for a few minutes then rinsed them and put them in alcohol. The man got overzealous once he heard I wanted to go to school, started collecting them, WAY too early, and I think I have a full mouth by now 😉. If anyone at my dental class needs any, you know who to go to!

And dentists totally won't care when you ask them to save some teeth....they had to go through the same thing!

 

[Yokohoma84]

I think you can store it in bleach, it says "Teeth should then be stored in a sealable container, such as a one-quart mason jar containing fresh solution of sodium hypochlorite (household bleach diluted 1:10 with tap water) or any liquid chemical germicide suitable for clinical specimen fixation."

Do dentists have an ultrasonic cleaner, so they are usually clean when you get the teeth from them?

 

[hockeydentist]

I was told Formalin is the way to go. "If" you can get your hands on it.

HD

 

[shinji]

Don't use bleach because bleach will damage the enamel structure. Use 0.1% thymol will be sufficient to keep the teeth in moist, sterile condition. If possible, use gamma ray to irradiate the teeth to kill all the bacteria.