A buccal swab is a sample taken with a buccal swab. It involves scraping the inside of the cheek with a swab to collect cells. Generally, this type of swab collects DNA from the cells inside the cheek and is a non-invasive and easy to perform swab.

The buccal swab is used for sex determination as well as for aneusomies, microdeletion syndromes and various molecular genetic tests based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The buccal swab is also widely used in forensics to obtain a source of DNA easily and non-invasively. The non-invasive nature of this sample also allows it to be used in newborns for genetic analysis and to determine the presence of certain genetic abnormalities.

By far the most common type of oral cell in oral smears are pink superficial non-keratinous squamous cells followed by orange superficial keratinous squamous cells.