Cheek swabs collect cells for laboratory examination, often for DNA analysis for crime investigation or genealogical studies. They can also detect certain cancers and drug use, determine paternity, and aid in forensic investigations. Swabs can also detect early signs of lung cancer.
A cheek swab is a routine medical procedure that is performed to collect cells for laboratory examination. A doctor, nurse, or other medical technician administers this test by simply rolling a cotton-tipped wooden speculum inside a person’s cheek and then sealing this sample in a sterile container for safe transport to a laboratory. A common purpose of a cheek swab is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis for crime scene investigation or genealogical studies. Doctors sometimes use a cheek swab to help detect certain types of cancer, and one of these cell tests is also sometimes used to check for evidence of recent illegal drug use. Obtaining this type of substance abuse swab test is typically done as a condition of employment or to ensure routine compliance with probation terms for drug-related offenses.
A DNA swab is often performed when needed to determine a person’s paternity; a cell match with a possible father indicates a positive test result. Some people conducting studies of their anthropological lineage sometimes use cheek swabs to match their mitochondrial DNA to that of possible ancestors that has already been collected and stored in laboratories. These types of tests are often able to trace direct parental lineage across many years as well as continental migration patterns.
Forensic investigators often rely on a cheek swab to identify criminals from a pool of likely suspects for a given case. Matches of trace DNA from crime scenes to cheek swab results are usually reliable forms of evidence that can be admitted in court. An added benefit of a swab test is that it often takes a shorter time to receive results than a similar type of blood test for DNA.
Another useful purpose of a cheek swab test is the early detection of lung cancer. Cells taken from a cancer patient’s swab are actually altered in tiny ways that many microscopes are unable to detect until later in the progression of the disease. This phenomenon is known as field effect, which indicates that cellular changes are detectable in the mouth at a distance from the site of cancerous growths in the lungs. Cancer detection swabs are also often used for testing with specialized optical equipment that monitors for different patterns in the light reflections of cancer cells versus healthy cells.
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