Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Dental Hygienists' Perspectives On Four Periodontal Instrument Handle Designs, Susan L. Tolle, Jessica Suedbeck, Gayle M. Mccombs, Martha L. Walker

Dental Hygiene Faculty Publications

Problem: Developing new instrument designs to address the ergonomics of instrumentation and to decrease repetitive strain injuries in the dental hygienist is an ongoing area of development. Changing the weight and diameter of instrument handles has been suggested to reduce risk for trauma in the practitioner but minimal research has been conducted to determine design preferences of practicing dental hygienists. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess dental hygienists opinions on the weight, diameter, balance and maneuverability of four different instrument handles. Methodology: After IRB approval, a convenience sample of 27 practicing dental hygienists from Virginia participated in …