coupland's elevators coupland's elevators coupland’s elevators (also known as chisels) are instruments commonly used for dental extraction. they are used in sets of three each of increasing size and are used to split multi-rooted teeth and are inserted between the bone and tooth roots and rotated to elevate them out of the sockets. the instruments were designed by doctor douglas c w coupland who qualified as a dental surgeon in toronto in 1922 and spent most of his career practising dentistry in ottawa where he specialised in dental extraction. coupland designed the instruments in the 1920s; they were manufactured by the hu-friedy company and sold from the early 1930s initially as sets of eight or twelve which were later reduced to three. coupland also designed a set of dental suckers with interchangeable tips. he died in 1936 after only 13 years of clinical practice. coupland's elevators. there are three sizes usually used sequentially for dental extraction