Frank’s Tube Shift Technique

Inferior alveolar nerve can exist in 3 variations medio-laterally.

Inferior Alveolar Nerve can either be buccal to the tooth roots, it can be passing through the roots of the tooth or it can be lingual to the tooth roots.

Using a single iopa we can only determine if the nerve is passing through the roots or if they are overlapping the roots.

Overlapping the roots mean that the nerve can either be buccal or lingual.

In an iopa we cannot determine if the nerve is buccal or lingual to the roots.

To determine the exact location of the nerve, we need a CT scans or a CBCT.

But these are expensive.

There is an economical way to determine if the nerve is buccal or lingual to the roots.

It is called as Frank’s Tube Shift Technique. It is also called as Vertical Tube Shift Technique.

It works on the principle same as the SLOB Rule.

Watch the video on SLOB Rule here..

I’ll talk about all 3 scenarios one by one in the below given video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8EkOSb85O4

I hope this video clears your concepts on Frank’s Tube Shift Technique.

Let me know in the comment section, whether you have experienced any such complication and how you managed it.

Also, do let me know what topics would you want me to write about next. The topics can be from local anesthesia, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery or Medical emergencies.