What does luxate mean in the context of dental extractions?

• A. Luxate
• B. Dislocate
• C. Detach
• D. Elevate

Answer: (A)

Luxate in dentistry means to loosen or displace a tooth within its socket by stressing and breaking the periodontal ligament attachments. In an extraction, this is the deliberate loosening step that mobilizes the tooth enough so it can be removed, typically using a luxator or elevator to widen the socket. It isn’t about the tooth already leaving the socket—that happens after further force is applied to elevate and extract. This distinguishes it from the other terms: dislocate would imply the tooth has already left the socket, detach isn’t standard terminology for this context, and elevate refers to lifting the tooth out after it has been loosened.