The mouth swab test, also known as a saliva drug test is just as accurate as urine testing without the need to handle urine samples. Saliva drug tests are extremely popular for workplace testing due to their ease of use and on the spot capability. This test does not require any additional training. The high-quality oral fluid testing devices take about 5-10 minutes to show the results.
Some of Saliva Drug Test Facts
Usually, mouth swab tests have low cut off levels for better sensitivity of detection. This is beneficial if the individual being tested is suspected of taking drugs. For saliva drug tests, samples are collected with a cotton swab, making this drug screening method one of the least invasive.
Who Uses Saliva Drug Tests?
The most common test administrators are Human Resources or occupational safety officers. Some insurance agencies may also require testing in order to provide quotes. To screen for drugs in circumstances where a restroom is not available, most members of law enforcement also use saliva testing.
Benefits of Saliva Drug Tests
All the drug compounds that are present in a person’s blood are present in their saliva as well. The parent compound, which is the psychoactive element of the drug, is also measured by the saliva test. This detection of the psychoactive element of the drug in saliva indicates that the drug has entered the bloodstream.
Saliva drug testing has the ability to detect drug use within the first few hours and in some cases, it can detect a positive result immediately after usage. This helps with speed of results and dosage monitoring for early detection.
A sample can be collected anywhere within minutes. Privacy issues that arise in urine testing are eliminated by mouth swab drug testing. The results are as accurate as a blood test without clinics, pain, or needles.
Specimen Collection
In order to prevent tampering with the test sample, all the oral fluid drug tests are administered under supervised observation. This supervision makes it virtually impossible to cheat. The test administrator has the donor place the sponge or absorbent end of the test in their mouth for at least three minutes. Poor producers of saliva may want to leave it in their mouth for longer, put it under their tongue, or swab their cheeks. After the sponge is saturated, it is placed in the test container and should close easily. It should remain upright and results are read after about 5 minutes. The whole process of saliva drug specimen collection can be very fast.
What do mouth swab tests test for?
A mouth swab test can detect anywhere from 5 up to 14 drugs of abuse. A conventional 5-panel saliva drug test identifies the following drugs:
• Cocaine (COC)
• Amphetamine (AMP)
• Methamphetamine (mAMP)
• Marijuana (THC)
• Opiates (OPI)
Some saliva drug tests can also screen for:
• Alcohol (ALC)
• Morphine (MOR)
• Barbiturates (BAR)
• Benzodiazepines (BZO)
• Opiates (OPI)
• Oxycodone (OXY)
• Buprenorphine (BUP)
• Fentanyl (FEN)
• Methadone (MTD)