title: Clinical techniques of performing suctioning tasks and of positioning the high volume evacuation (HVE) attachment and inlet when assisting a dentist. A guide for dental assistants: Part 1.
abstract: When assisting a dentist, an assistant may need to hold the high volume evacuation (HVE) attachment and use it to suction aerosols produced by the dentist's tools, particularly the high speed hand piece or the cavitron. The main objective of suctioning is to hold the inlet of the HVE attachment close enough to the source of aerosols to evacuate those aerosols, while avoiding suctioning of the patient's intra-oral soft tissues, and avoiding contact of the HVE attachment with the hand piece, cavitron or other instrument that the dentist is using. In general, assisting a dentist with suctioning is a somewhat complex skill that may require months of experience before an assistant develops an intuition for suctioning. This is the first part of a two-part article. The first part describes the basic concepts and clinical techniques that an assistant should be conscious of in order to be able to properly assist a dentist in performing evacuation tasks, describes retraction techniques for use while suctioning, and describes use of the saliva ejector and surgical suction attachment.
authors: John S
authors: JS
authors: Mamoun
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D001769:Blood; D003726:Dental Assistants; D003748:Dental Equipment; D015920:Gas Scavengers; D006801:Humans; D012463:Saliva; D013396:Suction / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols