A call for rehabilitation programs
I blame my dental hygiene education ... for not emphasizing postural form, for insisting on the wrist "rock and pivot" instrumentation, and for making us feel like we were cheating if we used ultrasonics ...
Dear RDH:
I was very excited when my April issue came. I wanted to read your article with the results of your "pain survey," of which I was a respondent. However, I came away disappointed because it seemed incomplete. I was hoping for some answers to a serious problem within our profession. Instead, the article repeated over and over that these physical problems arising from our occupation "are much easier to prevent than to resolve."
I know this is true, but I also wish that hygienists like myself, who suffer a myriad of physical problems that are quite far gone, could get some help from our association or schools. For example, I blame my dental hygiene education in the early 1970s for not emphasizing postural form, for insisting on the wrist "rock and pivot" instrumentation, and for making us feel like we were cheating if we used ultrasonics very often.
I must continue to work with my disabilities because I need to make a living. Without a bachelor`s degree, I have no alternative outside clinical hygiene. I cannot afford to pursue my bachelor`s degree because I have a daughter I am struggling to put through college, and I live in a rural area - away from the college I would need to go to for degree completion. This may sound like I am whining, but I was hoping to see come conclusions that could help me. It seems as if Ms. Coady`s objective is to sell the Alexander Technique. It would be great if our association could help fund rehabilitation programs for those in need, or offer legal help in workman`s compensation hearings (mine was a nightmare in which their lawyer humiliated and berated me), or offer financial aid to those who want to pursue degree completion.
Another interesting observation I have made is that younger hygienists do not seem interested in my advice from experience, such as suggesting they wear right/left fitted gloves, or to be careful with their posture, or to use power scaling more often. I hope that maybe your article will help them to prevent those serious problems before they end up like me.
Kristine Rowe, RDH
Linden, Virginia
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