Ergonomics

These six tips can help ensure you invest in the right workstation for your lab that will not only serve your lab well today, but also in the future.

Practicing dentistry can take a toll on you physically, leading to an early retirement or even a career change. But practicing dentistry doesn't have to be painful. Follow these tips and you'll go through your day pain-free.

Orascoptic's XV1 wireless loupe and headlight allows dental professionals to deliver optimal procedural outcomes with greater ease and less strain.

Get the top five ways to keep your hands healthy and learn all about our popular launch of DPR's newest free e-newsletter: Technique Geek.

Take care of yourself. If you’re feeling sluggish or you're starting to experience the body aches and pains that are all too often part of a dentist’s day-to-day, then you probably aren’t providing the best care possible for your patients.

DPR readers are always looking for ways to extend the longevity of their careers. With that comes the importance of keeping up-to-date on the latest and greatest in technology and making ergonomics a priority. But when the time comes for retirement, be sure to go out on top and with a plan to live out your next chapter exactly where you want.

DentalEZ Group has added on a showroom to its StarDental manufacturing facility that provides a way for dental professionals to see how they can create a customized operatory with a full range of ergonomic dental products.

The further you get into your career, the easier it is to become complacent, to make yourself believe there’s no point to invest in new technology or that the pains that come with practicing dentistry are just part of the job. But no matter what your age or how close you think you are to retirement, you have to continue to grow. You have to stay curious and passionate about what you do, whether you’re planning to retire in 5 years or 20 years.

When Irish dramatist Oscar Wilde wrote “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect” in the nineteenth century he probably did not imagine just how relevant this adage would ring true in the twenty-first century.

It’s not news that everybody wants to work in a safe environment, one that will allow them to stay healthy and continue doing their thing well on a day-to-day basis. What is new is the reality that even the best-laid plans to retire at a young age may be going by the wayside with the way the economy has changed most peoples’ lives in recent years. Now more and more people are working to an older age and others are making plans to extend their careers beyond what they had originally intended.

Dentistry used to be an ergonomic standing profession. Once practitioners took a seat, it became a pain in the neck…and back…and arms…and eyes… The general public often stereotypes a visit to the dentist as an uncomfortable experience. But patients don’t realize their dental practitioners all too often experience musculoskeletal pain that surpasses their discomfort during an oral exam. Worse yet, many professionals believe head, neck, shoulder and back pain are all part of the job.

Back pain is the last thing anyone working at a lab bench wants to put up with every day. That’s why ceramist Shawn Holmes of Becker Dental Laboratory in Herculaneum, Mo., looked into exercises and new seating in an effort to combat his lower back pain. What he found was a two-for-one solution in stability balls. Now that he has swapped his traditional dental lab chairs for these stability “exercise” balls, Holmes’ back pain has gone away and he’s feeling better and stronger while at work.