What is a mouth or buccal swab?

A mouth swab is similar to a cotton bud with a cotton-ended part on a single end of the stick. The swabs are sent to you in sterile packaging and it is crucial to handle them in a clean environment with clean hands.

Tips for Successful Saliva Sampling:

• Follow the instructions provided carefully.
• Make sure that the swab sample envelope is correctly labelled with the name of the donor and any other information requested.
• To avoid contamination DO NOT touch the cotton ended part of the swab and keep swabs from different test participants separate.
• Make sure to use all of the swabs provided.
• Avoid eating, drinking, and smoking for one or two hours before taking DNA samples.  Food and drink may contaminate the samples and degrade the quality of the sample. Water may be ingested.

In the case of infants it is important that at least an hour has elapsed since the infants’ last feed and to rinse their mouth with water prior to rubbing the swab inside their mouth.

Using Mouth Swabs

Results are issued by email as standard or by email and hard copy for an added cost.