Are Dentists Risking Hearing Loss Every Day?

Dentists and Hearing Loss

I would never have thought of dentists as being at risk for hearing loss, after all hearing damage comes from being around loud sounds that can temporarily or permanently damage hearing.  Dentists don’t work around loud sirens like police and fire do, they don’t work in a machine shop, or around engines, or in the military with all of its loud noises, nor are they around jet aircraft.  Surprisingly, the culprit is the very drill they may use on our teeth.  Apparently the “extended exposure to the noise from ultra-high-speed cutting instruments” may  cause hearing damage. Also, it seems that some people with hearing damage also may acquire some dizziness – which obviously could be a problem for dentists.

As far back as 1974 the Council on Dental Materials and Devices suggested that extended exposure to the high frequency noise from these instruments could be a problem.  The newer instruments (air-turbine handpieces) may be less noisy, but still can cause problems.  Studies have shown that right-handed dentists suffered more hearing loss in the left ear because it was closer to the cutting instrument noise.

Hearing loss can creep up slowly and it is progressive – and it may not be noticed for years – so getting a hearing test might be the wise thing to do – and also consider wearing hearing protectors.  There are ear plugs that you insert into the ears for hearing protection that are designed to lower the volume of sounds without distortion.  Some newer brands are made of soft silicone that are comfortable to wear and allow the wearer to still hear a conversation – they just lower the sound to an acceptable level (sort of like dimming a light bulb) and lowers those nasty high frequency hearing damaging sounds.

Hearing Problems and Telephone Conversations

Loss of hearing can have an important effect on a person’s quality of life, whether you are a senior, returning vet with hearing loss or someone experiencing hearing problems due to police and fire sirens or medical reasons.  Just talking to the doctor on the phone can cause immense problems.  If they misunderstand the doctor’s directions it can be life threatening.  Getting the dosage of a new drug wrong, or – not hearing correctly about drug interactions are all challenging, or perhaps the senior with hearing loss will get doctor appointments wrong – showing up at the office on the wrong day or at the wrong time – making some think they are having memory loss.  The inability to hear well on the phone can also affect safety, such as mishearing driving instructions and ending up in an unsafe remote area.  If employed, hearing loss can cause age discrimination, or directly affect your job if your employer thinks you are losing your edge.

One solution is an amplified phone.  Some of these phones not only have amplification, but also help the visually and mentally impaired.  There is an amplified phone that allows you to adjust the speed of the playback recording on the answering machine – great for helping to understand those fast talkers.  There are also high quality amplified business phones that help specifically with those hard to understand words that have similar sounding letters.  An amplified phone may be a real business advantage to someone that is hearing impaired, and the new high tech business phones today look exactly like a regular business phone, so your co-workers won’t be able to tell that you are using anything different.

Modern Senior Products wants to get the information out – there is help – the newer technology is astounding and can be an important safety factor for anyone experiencing hearing loss, especially the older senior.  Sometimes we might think a senior is having memory loss when the actual problem is much simpler – they just don’t hear the directions.  The most common hearing loss is high frequency hearing loss, which includes the human voice.  There are sounds that are very similar and hard to distinguish for those with high frequency hearing loss such as the letters p and b as in the words pit and bit.  Sometimes a senior can answer you with an outlandish answer that gives you pause – making you think there might be memory loss or early Alzheimer’s setting in.  But, the solution could be simple – their high frequency hearing loss could have made them think you said a word entirely different from what you said, making their answer seem really odd.  The next time that happens consider asking some questions to see what they actually heard, then you will get a better idea if it is hearing problems or memory loss.

Hearing Loss Phone for Seniors