Soft-Tissue Punch
A circular surgical instrument used to remove a disc of gingival tissue over a submerged implant during the second-stage uncovering procedure.
Full Definition
A soft-tissue punch (also called a tissue punch or gingival punch) is a small-diameter, sharp-edged cylindrical instrument that removes a core of keratinized mucosa directly overlying a healed, submerged implant to expose the cover screw or implant platform for second-stage prosthetic access. Its use avoids raising a full-thickness flap, making the procedure faster and less traumatic. Editors should hyphenate 'soft-tissue punch' consistently as a compound noun. It must not be confused with a 'biopsy punch', which is used for diagnostic tissue sampling and is not specific to implant uncovering.
Usage
Usage note: Hyphenate consistently as 'soft-tissue punch'. Not interchangeable with 'biopsy punch'.
In Context
- "A 5 mm soft-tissue punch was used to uncover the implant at stage two, preserving the surrounding keratinized band." — Operative note
- "The procedure section must distinguish between the 'soft-tissue punch' used for uncovering and the 'biopsy punch' mentioned earlier in the differential diagnosis workup." — Manuscript editing comment