In the context of surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 or dental surgery

Dental surgery

Dental surgery is any of a number of medical procedures that involve artificially modifying dentition, in other words surgery of the teeth and jaw bones.-Types:Some of the more common are:...

, a gag is a device used to hold the patient

Patient

A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

's mouth

Mouth

The mouth is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food andsaliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth....

 open when working in the oral cavity, or to force the mouth open when it cannot open naturally because of forward dislocation

Dislocation (medicine)

Joint dislocation, or luxation , occurs when bones in a joint become displaced or misaligned. It is often caused by a sudden impact to the joint. The ligaments always become damaged as a result of a dislocation...

 of the jaw joint's intraarticular cartilage pad. Applications for medical gags include oral surgery

Oral Surgery

Oral Surgery is a recognized international specialty in dentistry. It includes the diagnosis, surgical and related treatment of diseases, injuries and defects involving both the functional and esthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the head, mouth, teeth, gums, jaws and neck.It involves,...

 and airway management

Airway management

In cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anaesthesia, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine and first aid, airway management is the process of ensuring that:# there is an open pathway between a patient’s lungs and the outside world, and...

. Gag designs, like other medical instrument designs, are often named after their inventors. Common examples of medical gags include the Jennings, Whitehead, and Hallam gags.

• The Whitehead gag --invented in 1877 by Walter Whitehead (1840-1913), a surgeon in Manchester
  Manchester
  Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
  
  , England
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
  http://www.adair.at/eng/museum/equipment/mouthgags/whitehead.htm-- consists of two hinged metal frames that wrap around the front of the patient's head and which have sections bent to fit between the front teeth. When spread apart, the frames separate the jaws, holding the mouth open. The desired degree of separation is set and maintained by a ratchet
  Ratchet (device)
  A ratchet is a device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. Because most socket wrenches today use ratcheting handles, the term "ratchet" alone is often used to refer to a ratcheting wrench, and the terms "ratchet"...
  
   mechanism on each side of the frame.
• In Jennings gags --which are very similar in other respects-- there is a ratchet on only one side.

Non-medical uses

These type of gags are also used in sexual fetish

Sexual fetishism

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...

 or bondage

Bondage (BDSM)

Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...

 play. See Gag (BDSM)#Medical.

External links

• Mouth gags index page from the Virtual Museum of Equipment for Airway Management at the Austrian Difficult Airway/Intubation Registry