Glossary

Category: B

  • Burnish

    To make shiny or lustrous by rubbing; also to facilitate marginal adaptation of restorations by rubbing the margin with an instrument. To condense or polish a metal surface with a smooth metal instrument.  

  • Bundle bone

    Bone of ectomesenchymal origin that lines the tooth alveolus and also forms the cribriform plate. It is characterized by perpendicular striations formed by the insertion of Sharpey’s fibers and blood vessels derived from the periodontal ligament. This tooth‐related bone structure plays an important role during initial ridge alterations following extraction. Radiographically, it is called the…

  • Bulla

    Bulla

    A vesicle or blister >5 mm in diameter. Large (generally greater than 0.5 cm) fluid-filled blister. Bullae, blister (vesicle); a large bleb in the skin that contains fluid (serum). An air- or fluid-filled bubble occurring in the skin or lungs. The latter may be congenital or the result (in adults) of emphysema. Skin bullae are…

  • BULL (abbrev)

    Buccal of the Upper, Lingual of the Lower (cusps); applies to Clyde H. Schuyler’s rules for occlusal adjustment of a normally related dentition in which those cusps contacting in maximum intercuspation (mandibular buccal and maxillary lingual) are favored by adjustment of those cusps that are not in occlusal contact in maximum intercuspation (maxillary buccal and…

  • Buccoversion

    The divergence of a tooth from its customary alignment in the dental arch to a direction toward the cheek or lips.  

  • Buccolingual relationship

    A reference to the position as it relates to the cheek and tongue in the coronal plane.  

  • Buccal vestibule

    Buccal vestibule

    Portion of the oral cavity that is bounded on one side by the teeth, gingiva, and alveolar ridge (in the edentulous mouth, the residual ridge) and on the lateral side by the cheek posterior to the buccal frenula. The part of the oral cavity bounded by the teeth, gingiva, and alveolar processes and laterally by…

  • Buccal plate (syn)

    Labial plate. Bony wall at the buccal aspect of an alveolus consisting of alveolar bone proper, cortical bone, with or without intervening cancellous bone.  

  • Buccal mucosal incision

    Incision made in buccal nonkeratinized mucosa; not routinely used in implant surgery.  

  • Buccal index

    An impression record of the facial aspect of teeth relative to a cast.