Trephine Bur
Pronunciation: TREH-feen bur
A hollow cylindrical rotary cutting instrument used in implant surgery to harvest autogenous bone cores or to remove a failed implant from the jaw.
Full Definition
A trephine bur is an annular (ring-shaped) rotary instrument with cutting flutes on its inner and outer circumferential edges. In implant dentistry it serves two primary functions: harvesting cylindrical bone cores for grafting (as in the bone ring technique) and trephining out a failed or fractured implant that cannot be removed with a reverse-torque wrench. The preferred spelling is 'trephine bur' (two words, no hyphen); 'trephine drill' is an acceptable variant. Editors must not confuse it with a 'round bur', 'twist drill', or 'tissue punch', all of which are unrelated instruments.
Usage
Usage note: Preferred rendering: 'trephine bur' (two words). 'Trephine drill' is acceptable. Do not confuse with tissue punch or twist drill.
In Context
- "A 5.0 mm internal-diameter trephine bur was used to harvest a cortical-cancellous core from the mandibular symphysis." — Oral surgery operative report
- "Implant removal required a trephine bur one millimetre larger in diameter than the implant body to section the surrounding osseointegrated bone." — Complication management case note