Forensic Dna Samples Or Oral Swabs For Paternity Testing

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Paternity testing can today be done with just simple oral swabs. This is the most common method used for DNA sampling but of course there is the possibility of submitting other samples. We will discuss sample collection using oral swabs and sample collection for some other DNA samples.

Paternity testing with swabs

First of all, swabs are often referred to as mouth swabs, oral swabs, sampling swabs, buccal swabs but all these terms refer to the same thing. Swabs look like cotton buds but have a longer stick so as to be able to reach deeper into the mouth or other cavities in the body. Swabs provide a very high success rate in terms of laboratory extraction – extracting a complete DNA profile from oral swabs is generally easier than from other samples and thus, the reason why the use of swabs is always encouraged for a paternity test.

Swabs need to be rubbed against the inner parts of the mouth to collect cheek cells. The mouth is lined with a layer which is composed of millions of cells forming what is known as the epithelial membrane. When rubbed against this epithelial membrane, the friction of the swab ...
... against it causes thousands of cells to get stuck to the surface of the swab (along with some saliva of course). It is thus, not the saliva that gets tested but the cells that are found on the surface of the swab.

Why else use oral swabs?

Oral swabs have other advantages besides offering a 95% success rate in the laboratory. The advantages include:

- Because samples are so quick and easy to collect, you are able to collect your own samples. You do not require any assistance by nurses or doctors.
- Samples are so painless to collect that children won’t through tantrums and adults will not mind either (this especially when compared to former DNA testing methods that require blood withdrawals)

Using Forensic DNA samples

You can use forensic DNA samples when you do not have the option of using oral swabs. You can for example use a high success rate sample like a used Kleenex or semen stains (these have a success rate if 95%). You can opt for samples with good success rate but not as high (around 75%) including for examples finger nails. Other lower success rate samples include cigarette ends (65%) or toothbrushes (around 60%) and very low success rate samples include envelopes (around 25%). The issue with forensic DNA testing is that there is an added cost and that the chances of sample failure can be much higher than with oral swabs (always depending on the sample chosen).

Before submitting any type of sample for paternity testing ensure to get full advice about the sample you plan to send in.

Karl McDonald specializes in writing articles about DNA testing. Other areas in which the author specializes include DNA testing for predisposition to diseases, genetic research and DNA forensic testing. Resources and articles by the author can be found on many blogs and info sites online.