osteotome

[ os-tee-uh-tohm ]

noun

, Surgery.

1. a double-beveled chisel-like instrument for cutting or dividing bone.

osteotome

/ ˈɒstɪəˌtəʊm /

noun

1. a surgical instrument for cutting bone, usually a special chisel

Word History and Origins

Origin of osteotome¹

First recorded in 1835–45; New Latin osteotomus; osteo-, -tome

Example Sentences

They operated with a tiny chisel-like instrument called an osteotome in addition to a set of instruments called curettes, "which look like little sharp ice cream scoops," said Stewart.

From Salon

They use an osteotome and mallet, resembling a chisel and a hammer, to expose joints between each vertebra from roughly her shoulders to the top of her stomach.

From US News

But the sum of their rapid succession, when applied to the surgeon's bone-cutting chisel or osteotome, carves away bone precisely to the surgeon's design.

From Time Magazine Archive

Its latest development, the dento-surgical engine, is of heavier construction and is adapted to operations upon all of the bones, a recent addition to its equipment being the spiral osteotome of Cryer, by which, with a minimum shock to the patient, fenestrae of any size or shape in the brain-case may be made, from a simple trepanning operation to the more extensive openings required in intra-cranial operations.

From Project Gutenberg

When the deformity is comparatively slight, the bone is divided with an osteotome and straightened; when there is marked bending or angling, a wedge is taken from the convexity, as in the operation for bow-leg.

From Project Gutenberg