title: Dental curettes: useful tools for obtaining nail material for mycologic examination.
abstract: Obtaining material, especially subungually, from suspected onychomycotic nails can be difficult and/or traumatic with instrumentation frequently utilized by dermatologists. Use of scalpel blades and standard dermal curettes is often awkward and/or traumatic to the nail bed. Large clippings require micronization with a nail mill or tedious processing with less specialized instruments prior to microscopic examination (potassium hydroxide preparation) and fungal culture. A mycologist at our institution has efficaciously utilized dental curettes to obtain powdery subungual material suitable for immediate mycological assessment. This nontraumatic technique is becoming increasingly popular among clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University School of Medicine, New York.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stiller
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Sangueza
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Slue
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fass
mesh_terms: D003475:Curettage / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003762:Dental Instruments; D006801:Humans; D009262:Nails / Q000382:microbiology*; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000295:instrumentation*