Old Medical Gag
I don’t know why they aren’t selling these at the Stockroom:
According to this page on archaic midwifery practices, it’s a Maunder’s Mouth Wedge, 1860s vintage, made of ebony. Apparently the thinking was “a woman’s mouth was to be kept open with a mouth wedge in order for her child in her womb to breath air while it was being removed by operation.”
Elsewhere on Bondage Blog:
Believe it or not, it’s called an oral screw. It was really used on people who were having a seizure to keep them from clenching their mouth shut and possibly biting or swallowing their tongue.
You can still buy these. Have a lok at this link
http://www.surge.com.tw/online%20catalog/online/11.htm or http://www.cardinal.com/us/en/distributedproducts/ASP/MO70.asp?cat=med_surg or https://www.americanmedicals.com/pdetails.asp?pid=16607&subcatid=75&pg=1&pgno=3&sortby=D&flag=PR