Chronicle Seven : Break the back?

‘Suction please’ I requested my assistant. ‘Air please’ again I said. I was anxious to get done with the cavity I was preparing. Another patient was waiting and I had a time crunch to finish what I was doing. But doing a shoddy work was totally unacceptable. I wanted good vision to get all the caries out! For getting a good view, I was trying to move around and positioning my mirror in all funky angles. During all this time and pressure, the thing that was ringing at the back of my mind was “Don’t break the back”.

Back in India, it was the day for my first class one restoration. I was so excited! Was this for real? I was going to be working on a natural tooth! My patient, who was clueless that he was my guinea pig, lay down on the dental chair. I was keen on getting this one right. I started off with a lot of water in my hand piece by giving both my patient and myself a shower! Wiping the water off my face and apologizing to the patient about the splash, I continued working. In India, we did not use face shields and glasses. So I was pretty sure that my water show did deliver some unwanted micro friends on me! Back to the cavity prepping: I was now in a flood zone and I needed to see what I was doing. I was so into making sure I got the preparation right that I was almost leaning on the patient’s face! SMACK!! I felt something hit my shoulder. My professor was hovering behind me and giving me the most horrible stare. He said, “What are you doing lady?” “Are you kissing the patient?” Well, I was quite embarrassed and disappointed with myself that I could not please the professor. After all, I wanted to be the best student on day one and get his approval.

He saw my looks and mellowed down. He then asked me to move over and took seat in my chair. He saw my prep and said, “Looks like you do have some talent”. Wasn’t that what I was expecting all this while? I was thrilled! But he went on, “I think you can do a better job without breaking your back. This is your first day in clinical dentistry and you want to learn it right”. He turned the chair around to show me how to sit in different positions. 11′O clock, 9′O clock, 12′O clock and so on. The terms that would have sounded more like ‘timings’ to me now meant totally dentistry. I have not forgotten how he sat on that chair till today. He had the best dental posture.

At NYU, we had an entire class dedicated to posture and dental ergonomics. I was surprised and glad that this was more discussed and stressed over in the US than back in India. The professor who took the class had photos of students doing dental work in the clinics without their knowledge. It was hilarious! Each one looked so engrossed in their dental work that they forgot how they were sitting. To an outsider, it would look totally inappropriate! The professor said he would come around during our clinical times and help us position ourselves if needed help. He went on to say that ergonomics was one of the most disregarded part of dentistry. Eventually he did come to the clinics and watch us perform procedures on patients. He approved mine. All I could remember was my professor in India who smacked me to get it right! He did leave an imprint on my mind.

Ergonomics was the last thing most dental students seemed to have on their minds. I know some learned after having initial back and neck issues. I had a couple of friends who had leg pain due to inadequate chair height. Some were natural who could get it right without any help. Some needed reminding and some needed smacking. But at the end of the day, stealth pictures seemed to have a long term effect! Most of them were more conscious when the professor threatened them about taking pictures without their knowledge. The thought of becoming a laughing stock at the class seemed to have a long term effect on the “backs and necks”. Dental ergonomics could apparently be influenced by certain kind of yoga. I never attended those classes but I am sure Yoga in general makes the body more agile and flexible. I did invest in dental loops to get magnification. That helped my posture a lot. It did pinch my pocket when I did, but I knew it was a long term investment.

So if you are a student or a recent grad, don’t hesitate to ask your friends to take your working pictures. A few clicks and you know the long term prognosis for your back, neck and legs. Yoga is a mouse click away on YouTube. Dental Loops are something that not all have access to. But it is worth considering at some point of time in your life. I am sure I do not want to retire from dentistry at forty years of age. How about you?

Dr Meenakshi Umapathy is a General Dentist who graduated from India. She moved to the USA and completed her DDS from New York University College of Dentistry. She is currently practicing General Dentistry for Kids in Indiana. She shares her stories about  dentistry in India and the US through her narratives at the DentistryUnited every Saturday

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this blog are solely the views of the author and need not reflect the views of  DentistryUnited.com . For any clarification you can get in touch with the author directly at the address mentioned above.