A buccal swab, also called a cheek swab, is an item very similar to an ordinary cotton swab. It has a cotton-like tip and a long, thin stick for a handle. Buccal swabs are commonly used to collect individuals’ DNA samples quickly and painlessly.
The tip of a buccal swab is made of a special Dacron polyester that provides a consistent surface for DNA collection and extraction. To collect a DNA sample, a person simply has to rub a buccal swab up and down against the inside of his or her cheek. This process gathers loose cheek cells from the mouth, and these cells contain sufficient DNA for paternity testing and other genetic tests.
A sample collection kit from Prophase Genetics contains 4 buccal swabs for each person to be tested. When collecting his or her DNA sample, each person should rub 2 swabs against the left cheek and 2 swabs against the right cheek. Doing so ensures that our laboratory will have enough usable DNA to perform the genetic test.
Read more about our painless DNA sample collection process using buccal swabs.
