Abstract
Because of the special anatomical morphology of the oral cavity, it is difficult in surgical operation to attain every part of the oral cavity by the use of an ordinary straight blade handle. Moreover, the sharpness of the blade is often damaged during the operation since the edge of the blade touches not only the mucous part but also the teeth and alveolar bone.
Recently disposable blade developed as surgical knife has been used frequently in periodontal surgery since a sharp blade is available constantly and readily. However, the use of the disposable blade is limited in terms of area since some areas of the oral cavity cannot be attained by the edge of the blade.
There have been some types of knives for periodontal surgery such as Ishikawa type and Kirkland type. These types are provided with some angle between the handle and the blade resulting in respective merits. However, one of the demerits is that the blade is apt to become dull during the operation and it may result in an irregular incision and consequently in unsatisfactory prognosis. Moreover, the blade needs to be sharpened before another use. At that time, the sharpening is complicated requiring highly professional skill since the handle and the blade are in a single unit.
We have devised a disposable blade handle providing some angle between the handle and the blade mounting part for operation in the oral cavity. The disposable blade handle was clinically applied in periodontal surgical procedure and it proved to be satisfactory.
