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Archives for October 2014

Stand-up dentistry

October 15, 2014 By Trish Walraven 6 Comments

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that being a dental hygienist is easy compared to comedy. Every time I imagine that I’ve got the spotlight, that it’s just me and a microphone, and I’m telling dumb jokes about cleaning teeth, I get this intense knot in my stomach that makes me realize it’s really not my calling. Ask me to write something funny; well, I have days to think about it, time to play with the words, rewrite them when they’re not working right. But delivery? Only to your screen, kid. Punchlines, storytelling, pacing, all that in real time? It’s a surefire way to see me transform into Space-Out Girl, whose super power is to make everyone feel extremely sorry for how badly it’s going onstage so that the audience members turn to each other in embarrassment, averting their gaze just long enough for her to slink back into a fetal position behind the curtain.

So it is with extreme admiration that I present to you these comedic clips about going to the dentist. Some are classics, some are rising comedians that have less than 100 views on their YouTube videos. But I think all of them are worthy of being here in their own way.

Never leave a comic in a room with a little sucky thingie.
 

Totally funny. No, it’s not Jamie Foxx, but even his dentist thinks he might be. This is what happens when he’s left alone with a saliva ejector.
 
 
Guessing your flossing habits is a power trip for dentists.
 


 
Mildly amusing, but it misses the whole “of course you’re not flossing, your gums look like raw meat” point of it and goes straight to “your dentist is an a-hole.”
 
 
The dentist has a case of tongue-us.
 

 
You’ll definitely smile about this one, and probably lick the back of your forearm, let it dry, and then smell it to see if maybe you’re doing this to your patients. I like the way he gets all educational at the end.
 
 
Seinfeld vs. Walter White

 

 
Probably my favorite laugh-out-loud clip, proof that classics just get better with time. While this isn’t a comedy routine per se, Jerry Seinfeld did start as a stand-up comedian. Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston is a dentist to Seinfeld’s Anti-Dentite. This Seinfeld episode mashup is little longer than the other clips but totally worth your time.
 
 
She had to use Yelp to find a dental referral.
 

 
Skip the intro to about 1:20 and watch as this open mike diva talks about her latest visit to the dentist. She says her husband finds that going to the dentist relaxes him. That’s not so much the case for Gisele Gerry. She’s a talent, though, as she takes us through her flossing discoveries and complains about the hygienist with judgmental eyes.
 
 
Robin Williams and the lead apron joke.
 

 
If you don’t mind a few F-bombs you’ll enjoy the first minute of this clip where Robin discusses anthrax, Congress, and gonads at the dental office.
 
 
Robin Williams before he was famous, under an extracted tooth sign.
 

 
I had to add one more of him, from a terrible film made in 1977. The joke is lame and doesn’t quite make sense, but the slide whistle saves the day. Plus, hey, it’s Robin Williams in suspenders, which makes me sad and happy all at the same time.
 
 
Mybuh libip ibis obon thebuh fluhboor.
 

 
The most classic of classics in dental humor. Bill Cosby explains what he’s like at the dentist like only he can do. And if it’s been a while since you’ve seen this clip, it might be time for a refresher. Just make sure you wipe up your slobber afterwards.
 
 
______
 
Knowing how Google can be so literal sometimes (!), you might have come to this post to figure out how to do dentistry standing up and are now pretty PO’ed that all you got was a bunch of stand-up comedy videos instead. Hey, I’ve done the Crazy Bendy Straw routine with my back all spazzing out in the stand up position, and while it hurt like a lover clucker, we should all be thankful that wasn’t you, me, and a microphone. I might have just shoved that in your cheek for a laugh.
Badumm ching.
 
Aaand…Slide whistle out.
 

 
 
A blogger since 1997, Trish Walraven, RDH, BSDH is a practicing dental hygienist and marketing manager for an indie dental software development company. She likes writing about herself in third person and wasting time watching videos online because she can excuse it as “researching for a post on DentalBuzz.”

Filed Under: Fun, Humor Tagged With: dental comedy routines, dental humor, dental routines, dentists and comedy, making fun of the dentist, stand-up comedy

How does Ebola change dental infection control?

October 12, 2014 By Trish Walraven 14 Comments

PPEAt first I wasn’t worried. I was probably like you, thinking this was halfway around the world, and that it was their problem.

And then… it wasn’t just their problem. It became mine, too.

Now, I’m no infectious disease expert. I’m simply a dental hygienist who lives in the Dallas area, the center of the recent Ebola panic. And we should be terrified of what Ebola does to its victims. It’s scary, it’s creepy, and it’s lethal, in a super-speedy, no-time-to-say-goodbye-to-your-loved-ones zombie apocalypse way that you have probably freaked yourself out about enough already.

Magnifiedbig

Instead, let’s look at how this affects us in dentistry. The question that is coming up most often between dental healthcare providers right now is “what are we supposed to do?”

The CDC offered the following Q&A reply to an American Dental Association inquiry this past September:

“Can I provide dental services to someone who has recently been in West Africa?

“CDC works with partners at ports of entry into the United States to help prevent infectious diseases, like Ebola, from being introduced and spread in the United States.

“A person infected with Ebola is not contagious until symptoms appear. Signs and symptoms of Ebola include fever (greater than 38.6°C or 101.5°F) and severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain or unexplained bleeding or bruising.

“The virus is spread through direct contact [CDC emphasis] (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood and body fluids (urine, feces, saliva, vomit and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola, or with objects (like needles) that have been contaminated with the virus. Ebola is not spread through the air or by water or, in general, by food.

“Dental providers should continue to follow standard infection control procedures.”

And from the ADA website:

There is no risk of transmission of Ebola from asymptomatic infected patients. According to the ADA Division of Science and Professional Affairs, dental professionals are advised to take a medical history, including a travel history from any person with symptoms in which a viral infection is suspected. If Ebola is suspected, dental professionals may need to protect themselves with physical barriers (gowns, masks, face protection, and gloves), and contact their state or local health department.

According to the CDC, “Providers should consider Ebola in patients who develop a fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, severe headache, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, or unexplained bruising or bleeding 21 days after traveling from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, or Sierra Leone.” Standard precautions should be used on all patients as a matter of routine.

So, did you actually READ any of the statements above? Basically, it’s saying to all dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants, move along, nothing here to see, business as usual as long as no one has been to Africa. Okay, so that used to be true.

The problem is that even though proper protocols are in place, that mean one of two things is happening to cause Ebola to infect people in the US:

1) We are not following Universal Precautions properly, or

2) Universal Precautions as we know them are inadequate.

Case in point. Today a health care worker was accused of breaching the PPE protocol because she has been now diagnosed with Ebola. The second one in our country. It could have been the other guy; you know, the deputy who went into the Ebola apartment without a Hazmat suit that ended up getting quarantined at an urgent care center up in Frisco?

Yeah, it got pretty crazy in our town last week, because he lives here. In fact, his daughter goes to school with our son. Thankfully our town responded very amazingly to him and his family at the time of crisis and we were all very relieved that it ended up being a false alarm.

So, if the problem is that we’re not following Universal Precautions, maybe then, we all need a little more muscle memory in our procedures so that we’re already doing our best if this stuff ever does become epidemic.

I know that I’m not always faithful about taking my loupes, mask, and gloves off the perfect way, every time, but you better believe that I’m going to be practicing this with chocolate syrup on my gloves the next time I’m in the office.hsyrup

Seriously, maybe it’s time for your team to refresh themselves on how to properly remove their personal protective equipment.

Come on, who wouldn’t want to be in a room full of women (as is the case with most dental teams), passing around a bottle of Hershey’s, adding a little drizzle onto each person’s gloved hands, watching the syrup slick between their latex or nitriled-up fingers, then having them do a striptease routine in front of each other to see if they contaminate themselves?

Believe it or not, this is something that the OSHA recommends. If you’d prefer the CDC’s boring version to practice, though, you can print this PDF out instead:

Click to access the full poster from the CDC

As far as the other scenario? The one where the infectiousness of Ebola is far, far worse than what our sacred Universal Precautions can handle? What DO you say about that? Hey, nice knowing you, I’m changing professions now, love ya, see ya around but not here, bye?

Let’s hope then – for everyone’s sake –  that we have all just been sucking at taking our gloves and masks off.

 

 

 
A blogger since 1997, Trish Walraven, RDH, BSDH is a practicing dental hygienist and marketing manager for an indie dental software development company. She’s now concerned about the effectiveness of the mask she’s currently using in her office but continues to put it on the list of low priorities until the zombies actually come crashing into her operatory.

 

UPDATE – October 16, 2014:


(Now THIS is more like it!)
ADA American Dental Association
Guidance to Dental Professionals on the Ebola Virus

A person infected with Ebola is not considered contagious until symptoms appear. Due to the virulent nature of the disease, it is highly unlikely that someone with Ebola symptoms will seek dental care when they are severely ill. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the ADA Division of Science, dental professionals are advised to take a medical history, including a travel history from their patients with symptoms in which a viral infection is suspected.

Any person within 21 days of returning from the West African countries Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea may be at risk of having contacted persons infected with Ebola and may not exhibit symptoms. If this is the case, dental professionals are advised to delay routine dental care of the patient until 21 days have elapsed from their trip. Palliative care for serious oral health conditions, dental infections and pain can be provided if necessary after consulting with the patient’s physician and conforming to standard precautions and physical barriers.

You are advised not to treat dental patients if they have the signs and symptoms for Ebola. If a patient is feeling feverish and their travel history indicates they may be at risk of Ebola, dental professionals and staff in contact with the patient should:

• protect themselves by using standard precautions with physical barriers (gowns, masks, face protection, and gloves)
• immediately call 911 on behalf of the patient
• notify the appropriate state or local health department authorities
• ask the health department to provide you and your staff with the most up-to-date guidance on removing and disposing of potentially contaminated materials and equipment, including the physical barriers.

The Ebola virus is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood and body fluids (urine, feces, saliva, vomit and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola, or with objects (like needles) that have been contaminated with the virus. Ebola is not spread through the air or by water or, in general, by food. Again, there is no reported risk of transmission of Ebola from asymptomatic infected patients.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: American Dental Association, dental infection control, Dentist ebola, dentistry and ebola, Ebola, PPE breach, universal precautions

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DentalBuzz explores rising trends in dentistry with its own slant. The speed at which new products and ideas enter the dental field can often outpace our ability to understand just exactly the direction in which we are heading. But somehow, by being a little less serious about dentistry and dental care, we might get closer to making sense of it all.

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