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Retractors designed to temporarily separate and/or hold the complete mouth open or to hold back any of the edges of incisions performed in various oral anatomical structures, exposing and providing access to other tissues, organs, or oral structures during dental and/or oral surgery procedures. Most of these retractors are manual, handheld instruments available in a variety of shapes and styles according to the oral structure to be retracted; they usually include blunt distal blades. Some dental/oral surgical retractors used to keep open the whole mouth (i.e., mouth gags) can retain their position once set (i.e., self-retained retractors). Dedicated dental/oral surgical retractors are available for particular oral structures such as the lips, cheeks, tongue, and palate tissue flaps.
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