The patient/client is sitting (or standing) and either facing a mirror or facing the person who will demonstrate a wide, open smile. After showing a picture or demonstrating the smile, ask the patient/client to smile. With the muscle relaxed initially and with permission, gently place one or two fingers on the patient/client's cheek and ask the person to smile and then relax. Ask the person to relax and repeat these motions if necessary. If permission is not granted, then observe as the person smiles, relaxes and then smiles again.

In each of the videos, the palpation for the buccinator occurs with finger placement on the center of the cheek. The buccinators acts to keep the cheeks compressed with many different movements of the mouth, most directly during pushing air out of the mouth without letting the cheeks expand. Some of the videos show demonstration of finger placement after muscle activation to allow better viewing. The correct technique of palpation of muscle includes the sequence of muscle activation, relaxation of the muscle, placement of the fingers on the muscle before the muscle is activated, activation of the muscle, and relaxation of the muscle.