An Ancient Science to Improve Today's Clinical Practice: Oral Surgery Meets Human Anatomy.

Roberto Pistilli,Michele Covelli,Lorenzo Bonifazi,Pietro Felice,Maryia Karaban,Carlo Barausse,Alessandra Ruggeri

doi:10.3390/ijerph182211915

Abstract

Human body dissection was a ubiquitous practice in the past, to better understand anatomy and to develop medicine. Today, its role could still be important to answer everyday clinical queries and help surgeons. The example of the possible lack of anesthesia during symphysis surgeries can emphasize the usefulness of dissection. The mandibular symphysis usually receives innervation from inferior alveolar nerve terminations, but, in some rare cases, a particular anastomosis involves the lingual nerve and the nerve to the mylohyoid. The anatomical knowledge resulting from body dissections could help oral surgeons to understand the reason why the patient could feel pain during the surgery, and ensure performance of the right lingual nerve block to obtain complete anesthesia. This clinical situation shows the educational role of an ancient, yet still valid, practice, human dissection, and the importance of anatomical studies to improve surgical skills, to provide better treatment for the patient.

Highlights

The word dissection originates from the Latin words “dis” and “secare”, namely, “to separate” and “to cut”
The inferior alveolar nerve divides into the mental nerve, which emerges from the homonymous foramen at the level of the apexes of the first and second lower premolar, and in the incisor nerve, which continues its intrabony course until it anastomoses medially with the contralateral nerve
The knowledge deriving from anatomical dissection plays a key role, not least because of its usefulness for the patient

Summary

Introduction

The word dissection originates from the Latin words “dis” and “secare”, namely, “to separate” and “to cut”. Human body dissection was already widely practiced in ancient Greece, while in. Roman times, it was forbidden, so, as reported by Galen’s writings, anatomical studies continued on animals, assuming their anatomical similarity [1]. Remaining in the European context, the progressive awareness of the usefulness of human dissection as an irreplaceable cognitive and didactic method of understanding anatomy resulted in the legalization of this practice in around the fourteenth century. The study of anatomical preparation represents an important didactic opportunity for students and neophytes, but it is useful in many medical and surgical disciplines, to better understand the anatomical reasons for certain biological traits [4,5]

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