Perspectives, Realities, and Difficulties in Clinical Practice Experience of Left-handed Dental Students in Udaipur, India

Sultane, Pratibha; Sen, Nandini; Bhat, Nagesh; Patil, V. D.; Patel, Shivani; Patel, Hetvi; Limbachiya, Parth; Dudhat, Darshan; Kumar, Amit

doi:10.5005/jp-journals-10052-0105

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…This was a slightly lower level of prevalence of lefthanders than in Malaysia and Brazil. All other countries reported higher prevalence of left-handed dental students, namely 8% in United Kingdom (Henderson et al, 1996) and 9.5% in India (Sultane et al, 2017). The prevalence of left-handed students in the dental faculty in Nigeria was 20.2%, almost triple that of Malaysia and Brazil.…”

Section: Theme 4: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…It was found that almost half of left-handed dental students faced the problem of performing procedures in Periodontology course (Kaya and Orbak, 2004;Silva et al, 2016), slightly more than one-third of participants have difficulty in holding the extraction forceps, while 15% had difficulty to hold the suturing scissors. (Sultane et al, 2017).…”

Section: Theme 4: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…as the result of excessive use of muscular groups in repetitive motions, permanent segments in specific position for long period of time, and insufficient time for recovery. It was found that about two-thirds of lefthanded dental students and more than half of right-handed dental students were affected by pain in lumbar and cervical area and that the condition worsened in slow-adapting lefthanders (Sultane et al, 2017).…”

Section: Theme 4: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was found that in Malaysia, 7% of the population were left-handers (Kamarul et al, 2006). In dentistry, the proportion of left-handed dental practitioners ranged from 7% to 10% (Al-Johany, 2013;Silva et al, 2016;Sultane et al, 2017). To our knowledge there is no study to indicate the prevalence of lefthandedness among dental practitioners in Malaysia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…There is a dearth of studies on left handedness in dentistry. Most of the studies used the quantitative approach (Al-Johany, 2013;Kapoor et al, 2016;Sultane, et al, 2017). This approach does not describe the views on the problems faced by lefthanded dental undergraduates and how they adapt to the situation that qualitative studies offer.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Experiences of Left-Handed Undergraduates in a Dental Faculty in Malaysia

Nasir¹,

Jaafar²,

Wahab³

et al. 2019

AOS

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Work environment in dentistry benefits the right-handed dental practitioners. This situation requires the left-handers to work in an adjusted position causing them discomfort and inconvenience. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of the identified left-handed undergraduate dental students in Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) in performing dental procedures. The first phase of the study was to determine handedness of the students using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory Questionnaire that was distributed to all the dental students. This was followed by a qualitative study using the phenomenology approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on left-handed students to determine their perceptions on left-handedness in performing dental procedures. The number of students interviewed was based on attainment of the saturation point. The interview was recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analysed through coding, categorising and grouping responses into themes. Prevalence of left-handedness in this faculty was 7%. The participants were not aware of the right-handed situation when they enrolled in the faculty. This situation gave rise to psychological impact such as anxiety and stress. Although some participants were able to use their right hand for certain procedures, the dominant hand continued to be their preference. The difficulties encountered when using the non-dominant hand were grip-strength, angulation and positioning of the instruments. Dental procedures in periodontology (such as scaling, root debridement) and oral surgery (tooth extraction, incision and suturing) were found to be very challenging. They experienced muscle fatigue, reduced precision and prolonged time to complete the dental procedures. They felt that they should be given more time to adapt using the right hand under the tutelage of left-handed faculty members. Left-handed dental students faced difficulties in adapting to the right-handed situation and affect their effectiveness and efficiency. Specific activities need to be designed for left-handers to adapt to the situation under the guidance of left-handed faculty members.

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Section: Theme 4: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 92%