The ADHA has concluded a study that shows that dental hygienists (and dentists) suffer from hearing impairment due to the continual exposure to loud dental instruments.
“maintained.7-12 Evidence suggests that hearing impairment remains a problem among dental professionals.13-19 A pilot study of 40 dental hygienists from the U.S. (Virginia) with high exposure to noise from ultrasonic scalers had poorer hearing, as measured by pure tone audiometry, than those with low exposure.13”
It’s not just drills or ultrasonic scalers but a large amount of the equipment that causes a consistent bombardment of noise through out the day. Dentists and dental hygienists will think to wear eye protection and a mask but for some reason most dentists and dental hygienists fail to think of protecting their ears when working with this loud equipment day in and day out.
This graphic demonstrates how foam earplugs muffle but don’t actually block the low to high range frequencies which encompasses all dental equipment. Therefore, it may block some of the sound but not enough to be truly effective. The largest issue and like why most dentists and dental hygienists don’t use earplugs is to communicate with employees or patients requires to either remove the ear plugs or speak loudly which is an inconvenience to patients and those around the office not wearing earplugs.
QuietOn’s Active Noise Cancelling Dental Earplugs are effective at blocking 100% of the low to high frequencies ensuring 100% protection but better yet is that it allows the frequency of speech to be heard. So there is no need to remove or speak loudly to communicate.
They are electronic earplugs that uses a microphone to hear the noise around and then noise cancelling technology to block the noise around but allow speech frequencies to be heard. They require to be charged but run on an excellent battery that can last up to 50 hours and come with a few different ear tips. Each dentist and hygienist can have their own ear tips by preference and hygienic reasons.
Shouldn't You Protect Your Hearing? Dentists and their staff are exposed to high noise on a daily basis, shouldn’t you invest in protecting your hearing?