A curette is a surgical instrument designed for scraping or debriding biological tissue or debris in a biopsy, excision, or cleaning procedure. In form, the curette is a small hand tool, often similar in shape to a stylus; at the tip of the curette is a small scoop, hook, or gouge. The verb to curette means to scrape with a curette.
Some examples of medical use of a curette include:
the removal of impacted ear wax.
dilation and curettage of the uterus, a gynecologic procedure.
excision of the adenoids (adenoidectomy) by an otolaryngologist.
to scrape tartar deposits from tooth enamel in periodontology.