Paraffin and water soluble wax are acceptable for very hard tissues.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Sometimes
• D. Only if treated with heat

Answer: (B)

Hard tissues like bone and teeth are mineralized and very dense, so they require embedding media that can provide enough support during sectioning. Paraffin wax and water-soluble wax are relatively soft embedding media and can crush, cut with chatter, or yield irregular sections when used on mineralized, very hard tissues. To obtain good sections from such tissues, you typically decalcify to soften the mineralized matrix so paraffin embedding becomes feasible, or you use hard plastic resins (like epoxy or acrylic/methacrylate) that can infiltrate and support the mineralized tissue without decalcification. Because paraffin and water-soluble wax do not provide sufficient rigidity for very hard tissue, the statement is not correct.