1. An instrument for prying up a sunken part, as the depressed fragment of bone in fracture of the skull, or for elevating tissues from their attachment to bone. 2. A surgical instrument used to luxate and remove teeth and roots that cannot be engaged by the beaks of forceps, or to loosen teeth and roots prior to forceps application. SYN: dental lever. [L. fr. e-levo, pp. -atus, to lift up]
- screw e. a dental instrument with a threaded extremity used for extracting the root of a broken tooth.
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el·e·va·tor 'el-ə-.vāt-ər n
1) a dental instrument for removing teeth or the roots of teeth which cannot be gripped with a forceps
2) a surgical instrument for raising a depressed part (as a bone) or for separating contiguous parts
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n.
1. an instrument that is used to raise a depressed broken bone, for example in the skull or cheek. A specialized periosteal elevator is used in orthopaedics to strip the fibrous tissue (periosteum) covering bone.
2. a lever-like instrument used to ease a tooth or root out of its socket during extraction.
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el·e·va·tor (elґə-va″tər) [L. elevare to lift] an instrument for lifting tissues, removing bone fragments, or removing roots of teeth.Medical dictionary. 2011.