The oral cavity offers a unique location for studying the healing of bone and the value of the various types of bone chip grafts. The trephine technique can also be applied to the study of bone substitutes as possible inductors of new bone formation in cystic cavities, in tooth extraction sockets, and on resorbed alveolar ridges. It is hoped that the simple trephine technique described here will be an aid in the diagnosis of suspicious bone lesions, and that it may be an adjunct to the study of the healing of extraction sockets, thereby giving some insight into the etiology of alveolitis.