Curette
A curette is a surgical instrument designed for scraping or debriding biological tissue or debris in a biopsy, excision, or cleaning procedure. In form, the curette is a small hand tool, often similar in shape to a stylus; at the tip of the curette is a small scoop, hook, or gouge. The verb to curette means "to scrape with a curette", and curettage ( or ) is treatment that involves such scraping.
Some examples of medical use of a curette include:
the removal of impacted ear wax;
dilation and curettage of the uterus, a gynecologic procedure;
excision of many benign tumors and some malignant tumors;
excision of the adenoids (adenoidectomy) by an otolaryngologist;
to scrape tartar deposits from tooth enamel with a periodontal curette.
Ear pick
Curette images from the Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina
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