Dental Tunnelling Knife

The Dental Tunnelling Knife (LS1-368) is a double-ended periodontal microsurgery instrument with two differently sized round-tipped working ends — 1.5mm on the left end and 2.0mm on the right end. The central handle features a knurled cylindrical grip with evenly spaced ribbing across the full middle section. Both shanks run in a straight, elongated taper before terminating in small rounded ball-shaped tips. The full instrument body uses solid stainless-steel construction with a matte satin finish throughout.

The 1.5mm tip handles tighter tissue tunnels in narrow interdental corridors, while the 2.0mm end works across slightly wider subperiosteal tunnels along the mid-facial ridge. Both tips carry smooth, rounded faces with no sharp cutting edge — they separate and expand connective tissue planes rather than incise them. The stainless-steel body withstands repeated steam autoclave sterilization without tip deformation or handle surface degradation. This Tunnelling Instrument suits a light pen grasp during controlled subperiosteal advancement through confined tissue spaces.

Periodontists use the Dental Tunnelling Knife during the tunnel technique for root coverage procedures, specifically in connective tissue graft surgery targeting gingival recession defects. The surgeon creates a subperiosteal tunnel along the facial aspect of the affected teeth without releasing vertical incisions. The instrument advances through the tunnel to expand the tissue pouch and position the connective tissue graft beneath the flap. The Tunnelling Knife #2 tip dimensions give access to both single-tooth recession sites and multi-tooth corridor tunnels in the anterior and premolar regions.

Leader Surgical builds this instrument to consistent tip diameter tolerances with uniform shank taper angles across every production unit. Periodontal surgery practices and dental school clinics stock it as a core microsurgical tool for soft tissue graft procedures. The rounded tip geometry and satin finish hold up through sustained clinical use and repeated sterilization cycles without surface wear or tip distortion.

How does it differ from a standard scalpel?
Unlike standard scalpels, tunneling knives feature highly specialized, angled, and slender blade geometries (such as the TKN or TKS series) designed to reach difficult areas like the posterior teeth or to bypass the papilla and work underneath it.