title: Right- and left-handed dentists in periodontal therapy.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine whether successful dental therapy (scaling and root planing) depends upon handedness of dentists in right-handed dental chairs (units) Participants were 28 voluntary dentists (14 female and 14 male, ranging in age from 26 to 34 years). Patients (7 female and 7 male with a mean age of 39.6 years) had advanced periodontitis. Handedness was assessed using the Turkish version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. There were two equal groups of dentists: left-handers (7 female, 7 male) and right-handers (7 female, 7 male). Initial examination of patients was performed using a pressure-controlled periodontal probe. During scaling and root planing, the negative interstroke forces were recorded using a piezo-electric receiver, an electronic transducer, and an analogue writer. The results showed that during scaling, mean negative forces reached a mean of 0.74 N in left-handed dentists and 0.52 N in right-handed dentists. During root planing, these forces were 0.86 N in left-handed dentists, and 0.63 N in right-handed dentists. These differences were statistically significant. The right-handed dentists were more successful than the left-handed dentists at scaling and root planing, provided that both of them used the same right-sided dental chairs. The importance of handedness of the dentists was accentuated in dental practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, School of Dentistry, Ataturk University, Erzumum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Varol
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Canakci
authors.forename: Uner
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orbak
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tezel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003815:Dentists; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010510:Periodontal Diseases; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D016745:Root Planing; D016896:Treatment Outcome