Tongue Depressors - Box of 100 Wooden Throat Sticks

Tongue depressors in a box of 100: smooth flat wooden sticks used to hold the tongue down so the back of the mouth and throat can be seen. They are single use, disposable and one of the few consulting-room items that has not changed in a century, because the design is already right.

Features

• Box of 100, enough for a busy consulting room
• Smooth wooden blades with rounded ends
• Single use, disposed of after each patient
• Rigid enough to depress the tongue without flexing
• Also used as spatulas for applying topical preparations

Specifications

• Material: Wood
• Pack: Box of 100
• Use: Single use, disposable

Using tongue depressors without triggering a gag

Most of the discomfort in a throat examination is avoidable and comes down to placement. Press on the middle third of the tongue rather than the back - the gag reflex lives at the posterior third and the soft palate, so a depressor placed too far back triggers it every time. Ask the patient to say "ah" as you look, which raises the soft palate and opens the view without you needing to go deeper. Use good light, keep the blade flat rather than angled, and work quickly. Check each blade before use and discard any that is splintered or cracked, since a splinter in the mouth is a genuine injury rather than an inconvenience. Treat them as clean but non-sterile unless the packaging says otherwise, and never reuse one between patients. For paediatric examinations, a shorter approach and a quick look usually beats a thorough one that ends in tears.

Common uses

Throat and oral examination in general practice, clinics, aged care and first aid rooms; applying ointments and topical preparations; and craft, splinting and laboratory tasks where a clean wooden spatula is useful. Keep them with your medical supplies, or see examination consumables in first aid supplies at MediBC.