Vet nursing surgical instruments

Dressing Thumb Forceps

• To grasp inanimate objects such as dressings

• Should not be used on live tissue as it may cause tissue trauma

• Has serrations or grooves rather than teeth

Brown-Adson (or Adson-Brown)Thumb Forceps
 Minimal tissue trauma
 Two rows of fine intermeshing
teeth
 Holds tissue securely

Rat-Tooth Thumb Forceps
 Sharp teeth cause more tissue trauma
 Holds tissue securely

Allis Tissue Forceps
 Used to hold tissues in place and crush it
 Self-retaining, secure grip
 Jaws/teeth look like folded hands/finger

Doyen Intestinal Forceps
 Used to hold intestine and
block flow of material through
it during surgery
 Self-retaining
 Smooth surface grasps tissue
very gently

• Dont have

Towel Clamp Forceps
 Used to secure drapes to patient’s skin
 Pierce the skin, but rarely cause bleeding
 Sharp points; watch your fingers!

Mosquito forceps
• Used for small vessels
• May be straight or curved
•Transverse grooves
NOTE: Similar to Crile forceps
(next slide), but smaller and
more delicate looking.

Kelly Forceps

• To clamp intermediate size vessels

• grooves distal only(not along entire jaws)

Crile Forceps

• to clamp intermediate size vessels

• grooves along entirety of the jaws

Rochester Carmalt

 Grooves run lengthwise/
longitudinally
 Transverse grooves at
the tip only

Rochester Pean
- Grooves are transverse

Rochester Oschner Forceps
 Clamp large vessels
 Similar to Rochester Pean but tip similar to rat tooth thumb forceps
 Transverse grooves

Ferguson Angiotribe
 For very large vessels and tissues
 Has one large longitudinal
groove with many small
transverse grooves

OB Forceps
 Place over head of fetus to retrieve from uterus/vagina
 Must avoid placing pressure on eyes
 Shallow serrations grip gently, do not crush
 Jaws are curved

Alligator Forceps
 Used for retrieval of foreign objects
 Reaches difficult-to-reach locations

Sponge Forceps
 Grasp sponges & insert into body cavities to absorb fluids
 Be sure not to leave sponges behind!

Tongue Forceps
 Grasp tongue to:
 Intubate animal
 Examine larynx/pharynx

Tube Occluding Forceps
 Occlusion – Blockage
 Used to clamp rubber tubing without damaging it
 Note the smooth surface; you must look at this in
order to identify this instrument!(no ridges or grooves)

Mouth Gag

Dental Explorers

Used to explore tooth surface for tartar and defects (decay, fracture, etc.)
Not to be used for scaling

Periodontal Probe
 Used to measure the depth of periodontal pockets by
gently “walking” probe around circumference of tooth
 2 mm depth is normal
 Often has a Shepherd hook explorer at the opposite end
There are different mm calibrations
on different types of probes
 Peri – Around
 -odontal – Refers to the tooth

Scaler
 Scale – Remove tartar from teeth
 Used for supragingival (supra = above, gingival
= gumline) scaling, scaling the crowns of the teeth
 Have sharp edges on both sides, which taper to a
pointed tip
 Should not be used below the gumline, as the
pointed tip may damage the tissues

Curettes
 Used for subgingival (sub = under,
gingival = gumline) scaling
 Have a rounded tip, to avoid damaging
the subgingival tissues