Impregnation and embedding using bees wax and paraffin wax in oral tissue: a comparative study

Paraffin wax is normally used in impregnation and embedding of tissue samples in biopsy. This study aims to compare paraffin wax that is used as routine embedding media and beeswax in impregnation and embedding of tissues. 10 biopsy specimens were impregnated and embedded in paraffin wax and 10 biopsy specimens were impregnated and embedded in beeswax. After manual processing all sections were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H and E) to compare the effect of beeswax and paraffin wax based on the features of integrity of the section, uniformity of the stain, staining which includes nuclear details, cytoplasmic details and the background staining. The study findings proved that beeswax showed well impregnation and embedding of the tissues as well as preservation of the nuclear details, good cytoplasmic appearance, good tissue architecture and no bad effect on staining characteristics of the tissue. In addition, beeswax reduced the time needed for wax cooling. We conclude from our study that beeswax work well in preparation of tissue specimen when compared to paraffin. Thus, we recommended using beeswax in our laboratories as national available waxes.