Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A slight, pointed, needle‐like body, such as a small piece of bone. In dentistry, a bony fragment may be loose or attached to the maxilla or mandible after a tooth extraction. Small needle-like structure; Very small spike; Fine, fleshy, erect point (Lindley, 1848); Bentham’s term for an interpinnal seta. A small splinter of bone.  

A representative sample removed from the whole for analysis in order to make a diagnostic or histologic characterization. Dried plant or part of a plant in a herbarium, or any plant (part) collected for study. A part of a plant or an entire plant, either dried in a herbarium or living in a botanical garden.…

The ability of a diagnostic test to detect the absence of a disease in a healthy population. Specificity = true negatives divided by the sum of true negatives plus false positives, or TN/(FN + TN). True positives are correct positive diagnoses; false negatives are incorrect negative diagnoses. Diagnostic tests with high specificity are often used…

The dynamic air space between intraoral structures (e.g., the incisal or occlusal surfaces of the opposing teeth) during speech.  

The manipulation of material with a spatula to produce a homogenous mass.  

A flat‐bladed instrument used for mixing or spreading materials. The word spatula was adopted directly from Latin in the early sixteenth century as a name for a medical instrument used to stir ointments and potions. This medical sense remained the primary meaning of spatula until the twentieth century, when the utensil gradually came to be…

A sudden, involuntary, generally painful contraction of a muscle, or groups of muscle fibers. Sudden, violent involuntary muscular contraction. Involuntary contraction of a muscle or a muscle fiber. An intense, involuntary, usually painful contraction of a muscle or group of muscles. A sudden, usually painful, involuntary contraction of a muscle, as in cramp. An involuntary…

Property of surgical site capable of maintaining a space under a membrane for the purpose of guided bone regeneration (GBR). This may be provided by (a) defect morphology in either three‐wall or two‐wall defects; (b) use of bone grafts or substitutes to support the membrane; (c) membrane itself, which is rigid and stable enough to…

Serial measurement of the thickness of intraoral soft tissue in order to map the topography of the underlying bone.  

An instrument vibrating in the sonic range (approximately 6000 cps) that, accompanied by a stream of water, can be used to remove adherent deposits from teeth.