Anesthesiologists are responsible for maintaining the patient's respiration and other vital functions during surgery. Mouth gags are sometimes used to hold the patient's mouth open for dentistry, oral surgery and anesthesia.
One was introduced in 1914 by St. Louis physician John Ellis Jennings (1863-1935). Jennings' gag is a modification of the Whitehead gag, which had been introduced some fifty years earlier. Jennings removed the built-in tongue depressor of Whitehead's gag, and simplified the mechanism for adjusting it. The Whitehead gag has two spring-loaded ratchets. The Jennings gag has a single ratchet that can be operated by the finger and thumb of one hand. Squeezing the handles together opens the gag. To close it, the ratchet is depressed and the handles pushed apart. Both the Whitehead and Jennings gags are still being made today.
Exhibit History
Ann Baillie exhibit: The Trouble with . . . Tonsils! Sept. 2004
On exhibit at the Museum of Health Care in the East Gallery, small cases #1 and #2 - May 30, 2007 - March 9, 2009.