Hi, Dental Head start listeners,
Christina here.
I bring to you in this episode a
great chat I had with Stephanie Bots.
For those unlucky ones who have yet to
come across her online.
Stephanie is a registered dental hygiene and specialist
in office ergonomic,
sharing some really important advice around our posture
and well being as dental professionals.
Based in Denver Colorado, Stephanie has gained over
40000
followers on social media and continues to spread
her message via our conferences,
virtual assessments,
and her new podcast
straight up with staff.
We spoke about how dental school is such
an effective time to start establishing good posture
habits
in preventing pain and avoiding long term issues.
She shed so many good bite sized tips
that are really easily digestible to start implementing
today.
And she emphasizes it's never too late.
Stephanie says this is the only body we've
got. So I hope this episode helps you
on your way to protect in your career
for your posture.
Hi, Stephanie. Thank you so much for being
on the podcast with is an amazing
opportunity we have here.
Have you speak on the podcast for all
last students.
Yes. Thank you, Christina. I was really excited
when you reached out, you know, ergonomic is
important for everyone, but the earlier, we can
learn it the better. So students, like, I'm
always excited to talk to students. So thanks.
Yeah.
And, you know,
students as well, just as... And it just
as important for people who are just about
to graduate.
The journey is not over like, this is
when it actually starts. So
I'm glad to have someone of your expertise
talking to us about ergonomic and our posture
just so that we can try and get
started. But for those who haven't had the
privilege of following you yet on your podcast
and your socials,
let's get to know you a little bit.
So what was your journey into dentistry like?
Yeah. So I... I'm a Dental hi jenna.
I've been practicing
about 16 years now. I do still see
patience. It's just on a pretty part basis,
just with started my business a few years
ago, but I had a lot of dental
work when I was younger.
I was actually missing 7 and 10, so
I went through the whole ortho
expansion and then got implants. And so I
was in the dental office a lot.
So I was always interested in teeth. And
when it came time for me to decide
what to do, I
It was either nursing or
dental hygiene.
And the reason I didn't want to be,
like, a doctor or a dentist was honestly
1 of my older sisters went through medical
school, and I saw all and she's specialized,
and I just saw all of the schooling
she had to go through and I was,
like, no.
But I... I've always loved teeth, and I
was like, well, let's let's try this dental
hygiene thing, and I'm just... I'm so glad
that I did, and it's it's funny because
I
don't think I even knew what a dental
h did
until I went into school. I'm like, oh,
we go under the gun, Like, I didn't
realize that. But... Yeah. So... And I've been
practicing...
I was practicing full time for...
I'll say about 13 years. And then I
started my ergonomic company a few years ago,
and that's I had to kinda drop days
and it and go down to part time.
Okay. And so ergonomic, how did that
become an interest of yours. Did you
did you see a lot of injuries? Did
you see a lot in your own
workplaces?
Well, it's funny because I was talking to
1 of my hygiene classmates, and she was
like, don't you remember you were, like a
psycho in clinic with posture. You were worried
about everyone's posture. And I'm like, I actually
don't remember a lot of that,
but posture something I've always been interested in.
But I'll say when I really started to
pay attention to it was probably about 10
years in to my practice, I started getting
some pretty severe back pain.
And I didn't know, like, what to do
about it, and I was really nervous that
I wasn't even gonna be able to work
in the operator anymore. Like, it was it
was pretty bad.
So I started
trying to focus more on my positioning and
my patient positioning of my ergonomic, and I
was just like, man. I wish there was
someone out there that could just watch me
work and tell me what I'm doing wrong,
because I do... I knew I was doing
something wrong. I just didn't know what. And
that's kinda when the light bulb just went
off in my head, and I was like,
I wonder if I could learn about this
so that it would help me with my
pain, but maybe could help other people. And
it just kinda started from there. So I
relearn learned
ergonomic.
I started practicing more ergonomic and I felt
that it was almost night and day as
far as the pain difference. I had more
energy, and then I was like, yep. Okay.
This is what I'm gonna do. So I
just went back to school, got my ergonomic
certification and started my business and I've just
been off in running ever since. Yeah. That's
so interesting. Is you think there's a lot
of information about ergonomic
out there or is it kind of all
mixed up and confusing?
Well, it was kinda tough for me to
find
a lot of information, but if there's not
honestly... As far as, like, you've done and
how I risk we are. There's not merely
enough information out there. But I did learn
from... There's, like, a physical therapist, 2 has
done a lot of work as far as
dental ergonomic. I learned a lot from her.
I read some studies about, like, how you
want your patient position, how you want the
oc ec planes positioned, reading articles and stuff
like that. And just kind of, like, putting
all of these little pieces together.
And then that
combined with what I learned when I went
back to school to get my ergonomic certification,
all of that kind of helped me
figure out my process as far as my
program and how I do assessments in coaching.
But I I wish that there was more
information out there honestly.
Yeah. Absolutely. I think from my experience, I
think the only information we have got as
an for those listening
I mean, I've only done first year completed
first year or a whole therapy.
I think the only information we get given
in Uni. I don't know if it is
to extend more, but is just in
in our simulation labs
all our tutors do is just say, you
should move your patient up and doubt. That's
basically it. Or you should move closer. Or
you should put your feet on the floor,
and that was it. And but as soon
as they walk away, it would just go
back to what we we'd be just going
moving back to a hunch position because we
don't really... We're not thinking about our posture.
We're trying to do a rot
restoration, and we wanna get that perfect. We
don't care about our posture So I think
that brings me to my next question. I
think,
really... I mean, Uni is hard enough as
it is.
I mean,
should we be really thinking about posture
at University While we're studying or can we
kind of get away with it and start
maybe half we graduate.
You know, it's interesting with post
issues because really a lot of us develop
posture problems when we're younger. Even... I mean,
young, like, you know, at a adolescent in
teen years, which actually makes me very worried
about cell phone use? With young people
because they're hunch over, you know we... And
that can, like, carry on into our adulthood.
But I would say
school, really, I and I I understand, like,
the demands of school. And, yes, you want
to, like, do that restoration, do the crown,
whatever get through, whatever.
To get your, you know, your check sheet
checked off. Right?
But I do think it's a really good
time to slow down and really establish some
good habits.
Because if we establish bad habits in school,
that's just gonna follow us out into practice.
And then it's like,
We kinda play this trick with ourselves. Right?
Like, in school. It's like, okay. We're too...
I'm too busy to learn about posture. I'll
learn that after. I've graduated and I get
out practice.
But then we get into practice, and it's,
like, we need to get faster. We need
to see more patients. We need to make
more money and all of these things start
to pile up and then that that importance
of posture just goes down and down and
down.
But it... I mean, I can tell you
if we don't focus on ergonomic at some
point, we're gonna experience some pretty severe pain
or even injury of where people can't even
practice anymore. So the short answer, the earlier,
the better, And I do think school is
a really great time to start working on
that.
Okay. And so
what could possibly be some of the mistakes
that you think we'd be making right now
during school.
Our school years,
what are the common things that you see
patient positioning is huge, and that's
whether people are in school or if they
practice for 20 years,
patient positioning is a really important part for
us to to nail. Because if our patient,
if their head and their mouth isn't in
the right position, we're gonna be the ones
that suffer. We're gonna be out here, Chicken
wing or we're gonna be, like, upside down,
you know. So I think that's important. Also
mastering indirect vision.
Some people, I've have seen have practiced for
a long time and they rarely use their
mirror, and that is just... It's a nightmare.
So I would say probably those 2 things
are really important, and just body awareness too,
knowing where your head is at in space.
Knowing where your arms are at, You know,
or or am I twisting, you know, 20
times during this procedure. It's just... It's really
being aware of what you're doing, which
sounds simple, but it's not easy when you're
seeing patients. Yeah. And so what do you
find we're doing with our heads
and
when we're not doing that indirect vision and
we're not positioning our patients
well enough. Yeah. So if it... Let's say
patient positioning. If the patient is positioned too
high, which I see all the time, and
I used to do this too. Like, in
all the mistakes I'm talking about, I used
to do them as well. No so there's,
like, no judgment here. But if the patient
is positioned too high, that means our shoulders
they're gonna go up towards our ears because
we're trying to work on them. Or we're
gonna be out in chicken wing, either 1
arm or both arms, which is just not
good for the shoulder or the neck. So
that's a patient positioning problem.
Indirect vision, I have literally seen people almost
upside down, trying to see, you know, the
upper art of the upper arch. I... You
cannot do that
with good posture unless you're using your mirror.
So those are just a couple things. Yeah.
Absolutely. I think... Yes.
Indirect vision was 1 of the hardest things
to learn at first half. So any any
opportunity I got to avoid using the mirror
I would.
But, yeah, I can... Yeah, Definitely. I think
there was 1 time,
like, the first time I did a
restoration and it was a big 1. By
the end of 3 hours in simulation, if
you weren't
using good posture by 3 hours, you really
could feel it like you could really
you can tell that that if your body
kept on doing it, it didn't feel right.
So
it is good. And it's good to sort
of know these things. With indirect vision to,
there are some times where it's like,
You can't use your mirror. You know, because
you need your other hand to stabilize or
whatever it is. And I understand. I mean,
I'm a clinician, and I get it. It's
not always going to be perfect.
And I... That's something that I really want
people to understand. It's like, it's not always
gonna be perfect. There are gonna be times
where you have to drop your mirror and
do this number, you know, that's just gonna
happen. But what I try to stress with
people is, like, try to be is good
as you can as often as you can
so that when you have to go upside
down or hunch over or lean over or
whatever,
you're not so depleted
because you've been doing good up until that
point. You know what I mean? But I
just want people to realize. That you're not
gonna have perfect to ergonomic all the time.
But we just wanna try to have it
as much as we can. Okay. So just
to summarize,
what should we be doing with our head.
What should we be doing with our arms
and our shoulders?
So what ideally... So let's talk about natural
posture for a second, and we're gonna go
from the top down.
Ideally with our head, we want our ear
stacked in line with our shoulder.
And most of the time, we and dentistry
work forward
because we're, like, looking at our patient with
cell phones. We're hunch over with laptops. We're
hunch over, So we really want to move
our head back to get the ear in
line with the shoulder.
This is like, from the profile view, if
you imagine it from the profile.
And then we want our shoulders
down. We wanna try to think of our
shoulder blades like, going to little pockets in
our back. So we want our shoulders down.
And then we want our arms
close to our sides with the elbows bent
at about 90 degrees.
So that's a good and then you know,
for seated, we... I mean, we can talk
about seated positioning too, but when we're sitting
down, we want our feet flat on the
floor, like, what your instructors have said. We
don't wanna be up on the tip toes
or, like, crossed or anything,
but we also want our hips to be
above our knees.
Not parallel to the knees, but above the
knees. So that's a really nice
neutral posture.
And we can have that... We can't have
it a hundred percent at the time. But
we can have it pretty close to that
if we're using really good equipment and then
just like checking our body awareness.
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So
do some of these,
suppose in neutral position
is there tools that we need other than
like our mirror and that, But are there
are other tools that might help us
get into neutral position that we can talk
about.
And,
you know, are they affordable
what about things that really we can't afford
just yet. What's your advice there? What are
the tools that we should be using to
help us get there? Great question. So the
the 1 thing and I talk about these
a lot. The 1 thing that is really
exciting that's come out recently is ergonomic loops.
And I don't know if you've seen them.
So not all loops are created equal, and
not all loops are ergonomic. And I I
feel like I just breakouts hearts when I
say that, but if we can't, if we're
wearing a pair of loops,
and we still have to have our head
forward
or we still have to tip our head
down,
that's not an ergonomic loop. We need something
that allows us to have this, like elevated
head position.
So these ergonomic loops
are... If you look at the... So the
scope of the loop is like the thing
that comes out from the glasses that our
eyeballs look through.
And with the ergonomic loops, these scope are...
They come out, and then they angle down
so that we can see
into the patient's mouth as if you are
looking through a microscope kind of.
But these are the loops that truly allow
us to have a neutral head position to
where you don't have to jot your head
out forward and you don't have to tip
your head down. So these
will, like, go to my grade,
promoting these, I wish I had them when
I was in school, like, 16 years ago.
But when we're talking about cost of things,
I remember being a student. I I was
so broke that, like, I couldn't even afford
the discounted loops that they came in. You
know, they were, like, 60 or 70 percent
off, and I couldn't even afford that. So
I understand. And these loops just like any...
I mean, all loops are... If you're getting
quality loops
they're not cheap. It's an investment. So I
recommend, you know, sometimes they do have student
discounts if people can swing it, the earlier
they use these loops the better.
If that's not an auction, you know, just
making sure that you have it on your
wish list for when you get out into
practice and you do start making some money
to invest in those as soon as possible.
So I would say those allow us to
be a neutral posture. But, you know, if
we're talking about some, like, low cost or
no cost options, If we build our strength
in our neck and in our back and
our shoulders,
we're much more likely to be able to
be upright in a neutral posture sure because
those muscles just kind of hold us that
way. So if you learn these exercises to
do, you know, things like Rows,
that will in, like, certain neck exercises that
will help you be in a more neutral
posture.
And I talk about micro breaks. I guess
this isn't necessarily post related,
But micro breaks really help to
stretch out our muscles and give us a
little bit of a break.
But if we have muscles that are constantly
contracted all day long, that's gonna kinda force
us into an unhealthy posture, so we need
to also, like, learn what these micro are,
and make sure we're taking them throughout the
day too. Oh, here.
Just back to the neck and the shoulder
exercises, so you mentioned rows,
what other ones would it be like a,
like a a lot of
a lateral pull down? Yeah. Working on the
lats also doing some core exercises
to make sure that we... Because our core,
you know, we need to hold up our
trunk somehow and our core is responsible for
that. So making sure that we're strengthening our
core. We also need to strengthen those the
smaller muscles in our shoulder. So things like
external
rotations either with a a band or, like,
a bell can help strengthen those muscles,
but we also need to
avoid
other exercises.
So when we're in Dentistry, a lot of
times we're like this. Right?
Like, we've got our shoulders kinda up towards
our ear, and that contracts the trap muscle
here.
So for most dental professionals, and I I
honestly don't know. I can't speak to students
because you guys haven't been doing this as
long as some of us, and so you
might not have this severe of an issue.
But a lot of us who have been
doing this a while have these rock hard
traps that's... You don't want them to be
rock hard. That's not a good thing. But
they're already very strong and contracted because we
over work them so much when we're working.
So exercises like overhead presses.
Or, like, doing a snatch, you know, with
a dumbbell, anything overhead probably isn't great for
us because we don't need to work these
muscles out anymore or, like these lateral
type things.
So just kinda knowing what to do and
what not to do can really help with
your posture.
Okay.
I like the idea of micro breaks even
now. This isn't just generally
throughout the day just being a human being.
Having micro breaks would sounds amazing.
What does a micro
involve in the your surgery or in your
practice? Yeah. So what I recommend is taking
1 every 20 minutes,
but you're holding...
There's a bunch of different ones. A bunch
of different micro breaks are stretch is, but
holding each stretch for at least 20 seconds.
Because when we're working and, let's say we're
out here, you know, in chicken wing, which
all of us find ourselves here sometimes.
But when we're out here for a long
time, these muscles here, these traps,
trap muscles and our neck muscles,
They're just contracted the entire time, and they're
not getting a break. And so when a
muscle is contracted for a long time, pressure
starts to build up on the inside of
that muscle, and it cuts off blood flow.
So then we've got all of these muscles
that are just really strained and working overtime,
and it's not getting the blood that it
needs, and that's when we start to feel
pain. They start to get really hard. They
start to get fatigued. So what these micro
breaks do, like, for the trap is you're
stretching, so it feels great, but also, when
you hold it for 20 seconds, that's when
the blood can flow back into those muscles
and start to heal some of the damage.
So that's just an example for the traps.
But I have, like, on my Instagram, I
have a whole highlight on all of my
favorite micro breaks, and I'm actually gonna be
starting a new series probably next week.
Just demonstrating those, but we really need to
focus on these muscles that we over work.
So the upper traps. Are for our muscles
our wrists, you know, we just need to
to give them a break.
Yeah.
1 thing that I suffered
at the very beginning it when holding
a hand
instrument
was
how tight I held my hand scaler
and that was really painful after the first
time I actually had to
really start using them. What about our finger?
Like, are their muscles and our fingers that
we could damage?
Yes.
Yes. L we have to all kinds of
muscles and, like tendons and l and everything
in our hands. But back to when you
were saying how tightly you're holding something.
That it's just crazy to think that just
us holding something too tightly can lead to
things like tend,
and carpal tunnel to where people need surgery.
Isn't that crazy? It... Just because we're holding
on to something too tight.
So I do recommend just a light grip.
And not just on your instruments, but on
your air water, you know, on your suction
on your your composite when you're doing a
filling, whatever it is just a light light
grip. But there are hand strength nerves.
So when we're working, a lot of times
we're like this. We've got like, claws, you
know, because we're gripping things. So what we
need to do is do the opposite movement
and strengthen the muscles going this way. So
there are some strength that I have. They're
listed. I just did a podcast about this,
but they're listed on my Amazon storefront, but
they're just... It's, like, hand yoga, Like, it's
a little device you put your fingers into,
and then you can just do these little
exercises. Really helps with the hand and the
rest.
Okay. That's interesting. I I like that. That
was probably the first pain I experience was
just having
because I wanted to do this perfectly. I
wanted to hand scale
correctly, I wanted to get to all surfaces
correctly, in some reason, I had... I felt
like I needed to hold this thing so
tightly to get to that surface, which it
actually
thinking back. It's like, no. It's just
your wrist movement
that gets you to all these differences. It's
not how hard you're gripping on to
a skyler.
So, yeah. It's interesting.
Yeah. Like, that's not actually what's making it
efficient. And I think the stress too because
our job
It's stressful.
That's, like, working on patients. A lot of
times they're not super excited to see us,
but that stress a lot of times presents
in this, like, death grip that we have
on things. But I still find myself doing
that too. If I'm doing a hard scaling
and root play,
and I'm really working on a piece of
calculus. I'm like, okay, Stephanie, like, I'll be
gripping it so hard and I'm, like, no.
Because I know the power comes from here.
If you knows, so I just have to,
like, relax it and then do it correctly,
but it still happens to me too. Okay.
Yeah.
So
this is a sad said, art. I mean,
Is there ever a time where it's too
late? Like, how do we know?
Let's say we have injured ourselves?
Is there an indication that
it's too late to repair that
injury? Or
is it ever too late to work on
your posture like, is there any indications that
might we might think as students, you know,
what, I could just never get used to
that. I could never do that. I don't
think it's ever too late.
But I do have people reach out to
me often that, you know, are already
recovering from a surgery or they, you know,
they've had to take leave off of their
off this because they're in so much pain.
But I don't think that's ever too late.
I do think that you cross a threshold
where
preventive techniques are not enough anymore. And peep,
just like the mouth. Right? I mean, people
cross over this line to where they're not
preventive anymore. We need to start taking action.
And it's the same with our body. And
so sometimes people need surgery. They need Pt.
They need to get some, you know, some
help to to help things, but I don't
think it's ever too late. 1 thing with
these ergonomic loops that I mentioned because they
kind of force you in this upright position,
which is good.
Sometimes people, unfortunately,
who have been practicing a while, and they
develop what's called forward head posture.
Where they're kind of in this fixed slumped
over position.
They then start to get those loops that's
forcing them upright, and they cannot do it.
Anymore. They can't get upright, or it's really
painful for them. And so even with those
those people, it's not too late, but they
typically need to get some rehab so that
they can get their head more upright, and
then they can use those loops.
Okay. And so
with
rehab
what does that sometimes involve? Who who are
these specialists and who are the
clinicians that we would need to be involved?
We've just
who probably
might get to that point and be like,
okay, who should I be speaking to? Where
should I start if I'm starting to get
an injury? You know, I always say start
with your primary care physician. But most of
the time, they're, I would say all the
time. They're gonna refer you to either a
sports medicine, doctor or at least a physical
therapist to help you start, you know, evening
out some of these muscle imbalances that we
have
and then sometimes people need things like cortisol
injections or they do need to get surgery
because the muscular issues have started causing joint
problems to wear those like, the joints are
even that our vertebra and our back, they
can't get better on their own, and so
they need to get some kind of surgery.
So it just... It always... It just depends,
and everyone's different as far as what they
need. Okay.
So
for those who are listening and are about
to graduate
now
searching and applying for jobs.
From your podcast, I've heard that there are
tools that the practices should provide to support
our
ergonomic and our posture,
so things like a saddle chair. I've heard
is good
for helping us
stay in this neutral upright position.
I mean, what other things should we be
looking for in a practice and and how
can we deal with the practice doesn't supply
those things to us?
So I guess, let me say what I
think the office is responsible for.
I think the office is responsible for providing
where you are not going to injure yourself
when you use it.
Because I've seen
where it used to be an old closet
or, like, an old panel room or something
that they've, like, makeshift made into an.
And there is no way to use it
ergonomic. You know, the clinician has to reach
way over here to get this or they'd
have to twist and this... Like, that's not
okay with me. I think that the office
should providing a healthy
arbitrary environment.
So that's what I think the office is
responsible for.
Other things that I don't necessarily think the
office is responsible for. I mean, it would
be cool. It would be nice if they
would provide it. But I don't think it's
necessarily like, I don't think they have to,
but things like loops, things like stool,
I am a huge proponent of saddle stool.
I wish they were in every
everywhere. They're not.
Some offices are open to getting those and
some aren't. But I don't think that, you
know, if you approach your office and they
will not invest in that for you, just
please don't let that be the end of
the line for you.
You can invest in it on your own.
And the and the good thing about getting
good equipment for yourself is it's yours, so
you can take it with you. I mean,
the odds of you being in the same
practice for your entire career are pretty low.
So it's yours. You can take it with
you. You could even... I mean, I used
to temp, and I would, like, carry my
saddle stool and, like, all of my other
stuff, you know, and I would just take
it in and leave or bring it with
me when I left, and it was mine,
and I took care of it. Things like
ergonomic instruments you know, that, yes, It it
would be great if the office would provide
it, but sometimes they don't. And I remember
my first year,
of practice.
They had terrible in, like, terrible instruments. And
it was a no brainer for me just
to buy my own. You know? It was
like, okay. Like, this kinda sucks but I'll
spend a few hundred bucks and get my
own and that way, I I know that
I'm taking care of myself. Okay.
1 thing that also sparked my interest was
this certain pillow.
That you suggest in your resources
for patients.
Could we talk a bit about this pillow
what's so special about it. Yeah. So it
is a
it's a cervical cushion, so it supports the
neck.
And
it does 2 things. So it keeps our
patient comfortable,
and I mean, patients love them. Like, every
time I put them behind my patient, they're
just, like, Thank you. But a comfortable patient
is a compliant patient for the most part.
So if we can keep them comfortable with
something as simple as a cushion, they're gonna
be much more compliant when we need to
really tip them back in the chair, You
know, especially if for working on the top
teeth. We need them like, all the way
back.
But another thing it does is it actually
gets the patient's
head in the correct position depending on if
we're working on the upper arch or the
lower arch.
So it can actually position the oc ec
plane for the upper it kind of forces
their chin to go up towards the ceiling
while still supporting their head, so it's not
uncomfortable for them. And then for the lower
arch,
I use... I kinda of flip it around
for the lower arch, but then it kinda
forces the chin down towards the chest, which
is what we want for the lower teeth,
And then again, it keeps them comfortable.
So I've used this for, you know, 90
plus year old patients, and we all know
with that patient population that's hard to position
them, you know? But if we're supporting their
head, you would be surprised at how far
they allow you to tip them back. So
those, again, I wish like, every office had
them, but that's 1 of the lower cost
items. So that's not, like, buying a pair
of loops. You know? It's, like, 60 bucks
or something. You can get a cushion and
it can really help your patient. Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. No. That's cool. That's good to know
as well. I... Yeah. The amount of times
when I assist
and,
you know, you spend a few minutes
having to sort of get the patient to
continue
lowering their chin or raising their chin up,
you know, reminding them to do that. That
does take up time, and it does sometimes
affect your focus. You're kind of like,
okay. Gotta stop what I'm doing. Again. Just
reposition your chin or whatever it is. Yes.
So that's handy to know. Yeah. And when
we have our patient, you know, we're like,
okay, tip your chat, towards the ceiling and
they do, but then 2 seconds later, they
start drifting down, and then we have to...
And so many people just give up. Because
they're tired of reminding them. And... But that
sucks because that... Because then it, like, really
affects our position. So these Christians just kind
of, like, lock them in place. Which is
really nice.
Okay. All this information that... And all these
tools and all these resources that we've spoken
about
I will make sure everyone knows where to
find them. All... I've learned all this stuff
on your,
social media and you're very good at sharing
all this information and where to go find
this stuff. So if anyone is interested in
listening,
and they want to find out more I
will obviously provide all the links to where
they can find you and should they need
to speak with you by all means. That
you know where to go, and I'll put
that all in the journey, but you're not
based in Australia. So we don't have the
luxury of getting you in our surgeries. So
I suppose if we've needed someone like you
if we wanted to work with someone like
you, how can we get that help here
in Australia?
Well, I do virtual.
Virtual is great. Yeah. And I do presentations
for schools. It's, like a 45 minute, kind
of crash course and ergonomic.
That I do virtually, but I also do
assessments in coaching virtually, where you just need
your phone, and I can you pro this
and I can look and see what kind
of equipment you're working with and make recommendations
from there. So, virtual is a nice option.
Yeah. Or you could just find me out
there. I'd love a trip. Yeah.
Yes. I think if we can try and
sort of work on our posture early. Hopefully,
we don't really need such
intervention. That's the goal here. I Yeah. Yeah.
And and 2, you know, it's not just.
I mentioned this earlier, but it's our cell...
I mean, cell phones are huge.
And so really making sure, like, I made
my first podcast episode has some good tips
on cell phone and laptop use.
But I know that you guys in school
are probably on your phones and your laptops
a lot. So just making sure your phone
is held up higher, so you're not hunch
over it. Making sure your laptop is elevated
on something even if it's just a stack
of books, you know, to get the screen
up so that you're not hunch over, and
then, of course, in practice too.
Okay.
So
for those who are interested like you in
ergonomic and posture and helping out their peers
where do you suggest they start looking to
get that
qualification and that certification? Oh, to... Yeah. To,
like, be an ergonomic specialist? Yeah.
What does it take? Is it just a
course? It is. Yeah. And I can tell
you what I did. This isn't the only
way. But I got certified over Covid, and
so I it was a virtual. They have
in person, but it was a virtual course.
It was, like, a few weeks long. It
took it virtually, but the thing is with
with this, is there isn't a dental
specific ergonomic
certification yet. Like, I I hope eventually there
will be
But I had to take a basic course
in ergonomic like
ergonomic for people who worked in a factory.
Are on an assembly line or who work
on computers all day. So that gave me
a good foundation as far as what ergonomic
is and posture and dangerous movements and things,
But then I had to figure out how
that translated into dentistry. And so that took
a lot of like, field work on my
part observing dozens of clinicians to realize what
the issues were, and then I was able
to build my program from there.
But if people just want, like, a basic
understanding of ergonomic, honestly,
Youtube.
You know, like, if they don't wanna go
through the whole certification, Youtube has some really
good resources,
there is a book in Dentistry. I don't
know the name
of, I can't remember the name of the
book, but I can tell you the name
of the author. Her name is doctor Bethany
Val.
She is the physical therapist I mentioned, and
she wrote an entire book on dental ergonomic,
and I've learned a lot from her. So
I would say at least order that book
because that'll teach you a lot too.
Okay. Well, that's good.
Well, look,
I really enjoyed talking about this topic. I
think it makes
will make a huge impact on how
we perform as clinicians and how
much we will actually enjoy doing what we
do
it would be... Yeah. I think it's so
important.
So
for all those who are listening and want
to get to know more about Stephanie, I
will put those notes in the
episode
notes. Might get those links into those episode
notes and yeah. Thank you again, Stephanie for
being part of the podcast. And, yeah, I
wish you all the best in your future
endeavors, and
in your future teaching. I think we need
more people like you. Oh, thank you. And
thanks for having me on, and I just
wanna rest to you, and then everyone listening
to, like this is an amazing
profession that we're all in, and we have
such an opportunity to help people. But let's
just not forget about ourselves because we have
to take care of ourselves in order to
do our job. So... And and a lot
of that comes down to ergonomic of posture.
Great. Thanks, Stephanie.
Alright. Thank you.
Thank you so much for listening to the
Dental Head podcast.
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