Curette

//kjʊˈɹɛt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hand-held surgical instrument, often with a scoop or hook at its tip, used for cleaning or debriding biological tissue.

    "Curettes are used for the subgingival removal of dental deposits and for root planing. They can also be used supragingivally. The working tip of a curette is more slender than that of a scaler."

  2. 2
    a surgical instrument shaped like a scoop to remove tissue from a bodily cavity wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To scrape with a curette. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
curet

Example

More examples

"Curettes are used for the subgingival removal of dental deposits and for root planing. They can also be used supragingivally. The working tip of a curette is more slender than that of a scaler."

Etymology

Borrowed from French curette, from curer (“to clean out, scrape out”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.