My aching back
Ergonomically many dental offices are disastrous.Vital materials and equipment are arranged in a way that frustrates efficient work and also contributes to stress on the dentist's back. For example, I've been in offices where:
- Wedges, matrices and other materials were in a drawer on the dentists side and the nurse could not reach them.
- Burs were on the bench behind the dentist so they had to stop every time they needed a new bur and turn around and get it.
- Handpiece delivery was on a cart so that every time the dentist needed to put a handpiece away they had to turn their whole torso.
Each of these things by themselves is a small annoyance. But, when you add up the cumulative physical stress and lost time across a career in dentistry it is little wonder that our backs hurt.Doing good dentistry is hard enough when everything is at your fingertips. When things are arranged badly it becomes much harder.Have a good look at the setup of your office and see how it can be arranged to make your work less stressful and more efficient. (Or, come to one of my courses entitled The Art of Efficient Dentistry!)