Hello everyone and welcome to the first lesson of "The Ergonomic Woes of the Dental Professional."
My name is Lanie McBeth and I am a registered dental hygienist and clinical educator. Today I'm
going to speak on ergonomics and how it impacts your career in the dental profession. It's a
hot word these days because how you sit, stand and move at work directly impacts your career's
longevity. Remember the toy Slinky? When I was a child, I received many Slinkys. I would watch
it crawl down the stairs in motion from one step to another, but I would also pull, twist, tangle
and distort the poor Slinky until it no longer functioned. Well, humans are a lot like a Slinky,
and we need to protect our bodies from preventable ergonomic disorders before we end up like mangled
and malfunctioning Slinkys. In this course, I'm going to provide you with some tips and tactics
on how to deliver excellent patient care without sacrificing your spine or any other part of your
body. We are only as good to our patients as we are healthy. So respecting ergonomic principles
is important to preventing career-ending injuries. I'll touch on some ergonomic
considerations to help extend your career and keep you injury free. After watching this course,
you should be able to identify the risks and common injuries in the dental environment;
employ techniques to prevent injury inside and outside the operatory; recognize ergonomic
technology to enhance safety and prolong careers; and recall new-to-market devices that assist in
enhancing clinical comfort and safety. Also, this is an interactive course. There will be
demonstrations for some stretches for you to try at home or at work. Plus, there are accompanying
resources for this course that you can download or view at your convenience. Let's begin
by looking at the definition of ergonomics and some statistics related to the dental profession.
Ergonomics is an applied science concerned with designing and arranging a workspace to
increase efficiency and productivity and reduce discomfort. It's know as human engineering
or human factors. So, what are the ergonomic principles that apply to the dental professional?
Well, it involves designing, adjusting and changing the operatory or the front desk
so injury can be prevented. Think about this: How many of us just adapt to our working area
without considering our long-term health? Well, there's a lot of us, according to research. A
2012 study of dental professionals found that dental hygienists have a greater prevalence of
musculoskeletal symptoms and are at greater risk of developing problems in their upper extremities,
like carpal tunnel syndrome and back pain. In the study, 83% reported neck pain and 76%
reported shoulder pain. Dr. Bethany Valachi, an international recognized expert in dental
ergonomics, says, "More than 70% of dental students and 83% of dental professionals
are affected in one way or another when it comes to musculoskeletal dysfunction."
Valachi also says, "The most common cause of early retirement for a dental professional is due to
musculoskeletal disorders, which affects 29% of all early retirees." These numbers are telling.
They're telling us we need to do more in the way ergonomics in the dental practice.
Think of ergonomics as the fit between people, technological tools and the environment - meaning,
equipment should fit the user instead of forcing the user to fit the equipment. The first factor to
consider when looking ergonomics is our body. We need to take into account our age, weight,
fitness level and genetics. Plus women must also consider pregnancy and chest size. Next,
consider the instruments and the equipment you use to do your job. For instance,
periodontal instrumentation involves forceful movements combined with awkward postures
and prolonged vibration of handpieces. Even extracting teeth involves excessive force,
repetitive motion, and fixed working positions or static posture. Take a moment to think about what
your equipment looks like where you work. How is it positioned in the operatory or the front desk?
Do you use tools that keep your hand and wrist at neutral position? Now think about the environment.
With advances in technology, we are sitting more than ever in every aspect of our lives,
and seated workers are at greater risk for spine, circulatory, muscle and joint injuries.
Consider the type of stool or patient chair. What is the height of the countertop? Are you focused
on making tasks comfortable and efficient for yourself or for your patient? What about the pace
of work? How much twisting, reaching, leaning, gripping, repetitive motion exists in your job?
Working as a dental professional can sometimes be like working on an assembly line.
Scale, polish, repeat. Drill, restore, repeat. Answer phone, computer, repeat. There are lots
of repetitive behaviors and movements. Efficiency does make tasks easier to do,
but it shouldn't come at a cost. Think back to the childhood story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Goldilocks was searching for the porridge temperature that was just right for her.
Let me ask you: Have you found what chair is just right for you in the operatory or at the
front desk? Ergonomics is about finding a balance in sitting, standing and active movement. You need
to recognize the source of your poor posture or neck or lower back pain. Is it the position of
your chair, poorly designed equipment, or simply bad habits? If you are having trouble visualizing
your work environment, take a picture of yourself while seated. Are your arms in a neutral position?
What procedures are you not in neutral position? What can change in the operatory or the front desk
to improve your posture? My guess is that most of you will likely need some ergonomic adjustment
to avoid injury. But there's another reason to have an ergonomic workspace: economics.
Be it accident or poor posture, a career-ending injury has devastating financial impact on both
you and your employer. It can be a long recovery process for you, which may include missing
workdays and missed paychecks. In addition, you may accumulate medical bills and other expenses.
Maybe you don't have enough sick-leave hours to use to heal yourself. It can also be a long
recovery process for a practice when it loses an employee for a long or a short period of time.
It's estimated that a three-month, short-term loss of a hygienist
can reduce a practice's production by about $78,000. Production at $187 per hour,
35 hours a week for 12 weeks adds up fast. To have a visiting hygienist come into a practice,
a practice can expect to pay at least one-third more for those services. Let's say
the average hygiene wage is $35 an hour, times an additional 33%, that's an additional $5,000
in salary. Not to mention the loss of restorative recommendations out of the hygiene chair. The
bottom line here is injury costs a lot. But the good news is there are things we can do to prevent
injury and reduce potential financial loss. I'll show you how in the next lesson. Stay tuned.