Being a left-handed dentist: boon/flaw? A survey in dental colleges around the uae

Abstract

Background: Left-handedness has  been considered a simple inconvenience by some or something as convoluted as "the sinister," the Latin word for the left, by others. It has been suggested that majority of  the  humanity  are  right-handed  because  their  early  hominid  ancestors  are  thought  to  have  linked early speech to muscle actions already lateralized to our brain's left hemisphere at an earlier point in hominid  evolution 9.  Although,  the  level  of  modern  technology  enables  the  adaptation  of  the workplace for both groups of students (lefties and righties) under the same conditions, ensuring equal comfort for them all and avoiding possible psychophysical harm. Objective:To  find  if  there  are  any  difficulties  faced  by  Left-Handed  dentists  and  dental  students, identify these difficulties and how can we overcome them.Methodology: The  research  was  conducted  through  a  paper  and pencil  questionnairethat  was distributed to dentists,dental students and interns in 4 dental colleges in different regions in United Arab Emirates . The number of participants was 46, the age range was between 20-75 years old, amongthem there was 24 Female and 22 males.The  collected  data  were analyzed  with  the  SPSS  Inc.,  Chicago,  IL;  version  16.0.  Descriptive  statistics were  used  to  summarize  the  responses,and  independent  proportional  t-test  were  used  to  compare differences.Results:the study found that out of the 46 participants n=8 (17.4%) were ambidextrous and n=38 were  left handed. There was highly significant difference between the LH Students and Dentists (i.e.r=0.68) and p=0.54.The Survey revealed that 84.6% of the dentists and 57.6% of the students works on a right-handeddental  unit.   30.8%  of  the   dentists  and  6.1%  of  the  students  were  forced  to  change laterality.61.5  %  of  the  dentist and  36.4%  of students  reportednot  receiving  guidance  from  their supervisor, and that their institution is not properly equipped.Not forgetting to mention that 76.9% of the dentists and 63.6 % of the students declared facing difficulties. 73.9%of the respondents reported having musculoskeletal complications due to the use of facilities of RH dentists. 69.2% of the dentists and 60.6% of the students sees that being a left-handed will affect the assistant’s ability to work.Conclusion:The conclusion from this study is to highlight the needs of this minority group as many LH  dental  students  face  challenges.  Dental  schools  should  provide  LH  students  with  needed equipment and a proper learning environment. Expert senior LH dentists should help junior LH dental students to learn techniques and procedures used by left-handers.