An osteotome is an instrument used for cutting or preparing bone.

The instrument was invented by Bernhard Heine

Bernhard Heine

Bernhard Heine was a German physician, bone specialist and the inventor of the osteotome, a medical tool for cutting bones.- Apprenticeship in Würzburg :...

, a German physician in Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

, in 1830. Heine's invention was used as a bone saw, especially for opening the skull. It was a kind of chain saw moved by turning a winder.

Today osteotomes are used in dental implantation

Implant (medicine)

An implant is a medical device manufactured to replace a missing biological structure, support a damaged biological structure, or enhance an existing biological structure. Medical implants are man-made devices, in contrast to a transplant, which is a transplanted biomedical tissue...

. With the osteotome technique, osteoplastic procedures have been developed in which the bone quality (compaction of local bone) and bone quantity (ridge extension in horizontal and vertical dimension) are routinely improved and adequate primary stability of the implants can be ensured with a high degree of predictability.