Objective To evaluate the use, success rate and time in the paediatric emergency department when employing the kissing technique to remove nasal foreign bodies from children.

Methods The present work was a retrospective case note review for children attending with a nasal foreign body over a 15-month period.

Results In all, 116 children had a confirmed nasal foreign body and 84 were treated by the kissing technique with a success rate of 48.8%. This group had lower rates of instrumentation (20.2% vs 53.1%) and general anaesthesia (11.9% vs 18.8%). The average time saved per patient who had the kissing technique attempted in the paediatric emergency department was 30.6 min.

Conclusion The kissing technique should be employed as a preferred technique to remove nasal foreign bodies in children.