Surgical Instrument Glossary

American Pattern

Forceps with fully polished, pin-free hinges and handles gripped in a palm hold. The dominant style in North American practice; patterns carry numbers such as 150, 151, 23, 88L/88R.

English Pattern

Forceps with visible hinge pins or screws and slimmer handles, used with a vertical grip. Patterns are numbered separately from American designs (#7, #13, #17, #18, #22, #79).

Universal (Forceps)

A beak design intended for use on either the left or right side of the arch, as opposed to side-specific left/right patterns.

Anatomical Beaks

Beaks contoured to follow crown and root anatomy for a more positive grip; often offered with serrations.

Serrated Beaks

Fine cross-grooves cut into the gripping surface of the beaks to increase friction on the tooth. Shown as SER or serrated suffixes in many code systems.

Cowhorn (#23 / #16)

Lower molar forceps whose pointed, curved beaks engage the bifurcation between the roots; squeezing the handles elevates the tooth. #23 uses a straight handle, #16 a hook handle.

Cryer 150 / 151

The classic upper (150) and lower (151) universal extraction patterns; the S versions are shortened pediatric forms and the A versions carry parallel beaks.

Parallel Beaks

Beaks that remain parallel as they close, gripping the root trunk evenly to reduce crushing forces — the basis of most atraumatic forceps lines.

Root Fragment Forceps

Slender, fine-tipped forceps (often bayonet-shaped for upper access) used to retrieve fractured root tips.

Pediatric / Klein Pattern

Reduced-size forceps for deciduous teeth; Klein-series versions add a spring between the handles for one-hand control.

Apexo Elevator (301/302/303)

Fine straight or angled elevators used to loosen roots and root tips; 301 is the straight 2.5 mm standard.

Bein / Straight Root Elevator

A straight gouge-form elevator inserted along the root surface and rotated to luxate the tooth; sized by blade width.

Cryer Elevator (Flag Pattern)

Paired left/right triangular "flag" blades used through an empty socket to elevate the adjacent root; supplied in large, medium, and small flag sizes.

Seldin Elevator (34 / 34S / 46)

Wide gouge-form elevators with a gentle back curve; #46-type patterns are back-action variants.

Back-Action (R suffix)

An elevator blade angled to work with a pulling (lingual-to-buccal) action rather than a push; often marked with an R.

Heidbrink Root Tip Pick

Fine straight (#1) and paired curved (#2 left / #3 right) picks for teasing out small apical fragments.

Luxating Elevator / Luxator

A thin, sharp, slightly concave blade that cuts the periodontal ligament while compressing socket bone, easing the tooth out with minimal trauma; sized by blade width and supplied straight or curved.

Periotome

An even finer ligament-cutting blade used vertically in the periodontal space before extraction; not designed for leverage.

Crane Pick

A heavy pick used with purchase-point technique to elevate whole roots or teeth.

Warwick James

Small English-pattern elevators supplied straight, left, and right, favored for third molars and root tips.

Periosteal Elevator

A blunt or semi-sharp blade used to reflect the mucoperiosteum from bone at the start of a flap; usually double-ended with two blade forms.

Molt #9

The most common periosteal pattern: a broad 7–7.5 mm curved blade paired with a narrow pointed end.

Prichard (PR3 / PPR3)

A periosteal with one large flat retraction blade and one small curved reflection tip.

Seldin #23

A wide flat retractor/periosteal with two broad ends for heavy flap retraction.

Raspatory

A scraping elevator used to clean soft tissue from bone; several surgical curette patterns double as raspatories.

Minnesota Retractor

A bent flat blade retracting both cheek and flap; the Cawood-Minnesota is the standard oral surgery form.

Weider Retractor

A broad, heart-shaped ("sweetheart") tongue retractor in small and large widths.

Mouth Gag / Bite Prop

Devices holding the mouth open during surgery — ratchet gags (Denhart, Molt) or solid rubber/silicone props.

Rongeur

Spring-handled bone nipper for trimming alveolar bone; classic dental patterns include Friedman (narrow), Blumenthal (30° standard) and Cleveland #4.

Bone File (Miller-Colburn)

A double-ended file for smoothing bone edges after extraction; #1 and #2 sizes come in parallel-cut and cross-cut versions.

Lucas Curette

A spoon-shaped double-ended bone curette for debriding sockets, sized by spoon width in millimetres.

Molt Curette (2/4)

A double-ended surgical curette pairing a small #2 and large #4 spoon.

Miller Surgical Curette

Angled-shank bone curettes (#9–#11 group) used for cyst and socket debridement.

Ochsenbein Chisel

A periodontal bone chisel with semicircular cutting notches; #1 and #2 differ in which face of the curve is sharpened.

Osteotome

A bone chisel driven with a mallet — or pushed, in sinus-lift technique — supplied with concave or convex tips in graduated diameters.

Surgical Mallet

A weighted mallet, solid stainless or with replaceable plastic inserts, used with chisels and osteotomes.

Trephine / Mucosa Punch

Rotary or hand cylinders that remove a circular core of bone or a disc of soft tissue, sized by diameter.

Sinus Lift Curette

Long, angled blunt-edged spoons for elevating the sinus membrane from the antral floor; supplied in graded reach and widths.

Needle Holder

A locking instrument for driving suture needles. Common dental patterns: Mayo-Hegar (large), Crile-Wood (medium), Derf (short), Mathieu (spring-ratchet palm pattern) and Castroviejo (micro, spring-lock).

TC (Tungsten Carbide)

Hardened carbide inserts in needle-holder or scissor jaws for grip and edge life; usually signalled by gold-plated rings or a TC suffix.

Hemostat

A locking, serrated-jaw clamp for vessels and tissue: Halstead-Mosquito (small, straight or curved) and Kelly (larger).

Tissue Forceps (1×2)

Thumb forceps whose tips interlock one-into-two teeth ("rat tooth") for a positive soft-tissue grip — Adson and Semken patterns are the dental standards.

Dressing Forceps

Thumb forceps with serrated, non-toothed tips for handling dressings and delicate tissue.

Adson

A short (12 cm) thumb-forceps pattern with a fine tapered tip, made in dressing and 1×2 tissue versions.

Iris Scissors

Small 11.5 cm fine-pointed scissors, straight or curved, for delicate tissue and suture work.

La Grange Scissors

Double-curved (compound) scissors giving access around flaps for gingival trimming.

Goldman-Fox Scissors

Slim curved perio scissors, commonly 13 cm, one blade often serrated to hold tissue.

Metzenbaum Scissors

Longer blunt dissecting scissors for undermining tissue planes.

SuperCut (SC)

A scissor grind with one knife-edged blade and one micro-serrated blade for a cleaner cut; usually marked by a black or gold ring and an SC suffix.

DE (Double-Ended)

One handle carrying two working ends — often mirror-image left/right or two sizes of the same pattern.

TiN (Titanium Nitride)

A gold-colored ceramic coating that hardens cutting edges and lowers friction; common on luxation instruments.

Base Pattern Designation

The core catalogue number identifying a clinical pattern, excluding maker-specific suffixes for finish, coating, serration, or handle. This is the level at which comparable patterns are matched in comparison charts.

Pattern / Eponym

Most surgical instruments are named for a designer (Cryer, Seldin, Molt, Prichard…) plus a number; different manufacturers produce their own versions of the same named pattern.

Serrated Blade (SR)

Elevator or scissor blades with fine gripping teeth; usually an SR or SER suffix.

Left / Right (L/R)

Side-specific working ends. Note that some makers label orientation from the operator’s view and others from the patient’s — pattern numbers, not L/R labels, are the reliable identity.