Dental instruments are crucial elements for a dental practitioner to provide the proper treatment and deliver quality services to their patients. A reputable oral healthcare provider is aware of the instruments available to him/her, their functions, and when to use which. Without explorers, periodontal probes, burs, and rubber dams, the eradication of dental caries along with periodontal disease would not be considered possible. At New York University College of Dentistry, the instrument coordinators position entails evaluation of instrument tray packaging, replacement of damaged or missing instruments, and acquisition of new instruments. Additionally, the instrument coordinators must anticipate instruments that will be needed for the current day’s and the following days’ cases. However, how has the instrument distribution changed over the years?
According to Vanessa, who has been an employee of NYUCD for two years, the instrument distribution hasn’t exactly changed until the COVID-19 virus. This pandemic emphasized the need for cleanliness and diminished the clusters of patients and doctors floating around the clinic. There used to be a pile of surgical masks in each clinic cubicle, but now each student and faculty member has their own customized N95 mask along with face shields. Additionally, for many years, the faculty have been distinguished from the students via their white disposable coats and now, without them, it makes it difficult to distinguish faculty from students. Vanessa also explained that there is a major concern in regards to aerosols. The alginate impression material, which used to be a powder, is now in the form of a putty which requires a catalyst to activate it. Likewise, the number of student doctors on the clinic floor has decreased in size and the waiting room has practically diminished.
Upstairs on the 11th floor, Marie who has worked for 22 years at NYUCD has noticed changes due to not only COVID-19, but due to major technological advancements. In the past, there was a focus on the beneficial properties of amalgam for caries restorations along with instruments to create a proper retentive and resistant amalgam restoration. Today, there is a major push on replacing amalgam with composite for esthetic reasons. Marie needed to distribute etch, resin, light cure, and polishing burs for each student along with amalgam pluggers and wells. With the current pandemic, Marie has ordered electric handpieces and participated in zoom orientations on how to properly set them up so that she can explain this to students. Marie has also explained her difficulty in adapting to students from the same class being dispersed throughout different rooms. For instance, some students were required to fulfill their Cariology sim labs on the clinic floors, while others were required to fulfill them in labs on the 11th floor, so now Marie has to run around and communicate with the clinic distributors to make sure that every student is getting the equipment they need.
Both Marie and Vanessa see an unpredictable future ahead, but are eager to continue working and serving the dental school to the best of their abilities. Marie believes in-person lab hours will become almost non-existent as everything has been transforming towards online education and Vanessa expects to see an increase in underserved patients due to the clinic seeing fewer patients a day now. With the pandemic around us and technological advancements, no one is certain of the future of instrument distribution at NYUCD.
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