CATEGORY 46 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST EVENTS Meet Dr Trevor Jarrett who has been using rubber dam routinely in general dental practice for over 40 years and has placed rubber dam over 50 thousand times. Dr Jarrett has created an online ELearn package to help aspiring rubber dam users develop a simple and streamlined clinical process around routine rubber dam use for general restorative procedures. Dr Trevor Jarrett: Being such a passionate advocate for rubber dam I am continually surprised that only a few percent of dentists use rubber dam routinely for restorative dentistry – I cannot imagine my career without rubber dam! I am forever grateful that way back in 1864 Dr Sanford Christie Barnum had a stroke of dental genius and invented rubber dam. Rubber dam has so changed my career that it has been my career’s undertaking to try to convert as many of my colleagues as possible to becoming devoted rubber dam users and ambassadors. I have always found the process to be so simple, and yet the bene ts so incredible, so recently I decided to create a tutorial that outlines the technique that I have used for over 40 years. It is widely recognised that rubber dam allows one to more consistently and easily achieve better treatment outcomes and also helps to make treatment much safer for the patient and dental sta . Additionally, and most importantly, rubber dam dramatically reduces patient and dentist stress levels and actually allows the dentist to enjoy doing dentistry. So why is it then that dentists are generally so reluctant to discover the bene ts and joy of using rubber dam? I believe there are two main reasons. Rubber Dam courses Firstly, there is a lack of proper teaching and training around rubber dam, which creates a lack of con dence with the application process and therefore a reluctance to embrace the technique as well as the philosophy. Consequently, dentists do not gain enough experience and expertise with rubber dam to become pro cient with its use, and therefore never get to fully appreciate the enormous bene ts of rubber dam. Unfortunately, it is also my experience that many of the available rubber dam training tutorials unnecessarily complicate the application process and make rubber dam usage appear to be far more di cult than it actually is. is reinforces the idea that it takes too long to place rubber dam and therefore creates a belief that rubber dam wastes time. e truth is that rubber dam actually saves treatment time – I can routinely place rubber dam in under two minutes while I am waiting for the LA to kick in. Secondly, I believe that there is also a fear that patients will not accept rubber dam or that rubber dam may dissuade patients from seeking treatment at your practice – a fear that rubber dam may not be seen as a practice builder or a positive aspect in your practice marketing. Overwhelmingly my personal experience is that if patients are correctly introduced to the rubber dam philosophy, most will actually prefer to have treatment with rubber dam. Certainly, the research supports this nding. My experience is that using rubber dam allows me to create better quality and more e cient dentistry and I believe it is an essential element in the pursuit of dental excellence. Providing high quality treatment ensures that patients experience less post-op sensitivity, and their restorative work has better longevity. ese factors equate to more patient satisfaction and con dence in your work and therefore more referrals. I truly believe that if you introduce the rubber dam philosophy to your patients in a positive way it can be a huge practice builder. I opened a new ‘greenstick’ practice in regional Victoria four years ago and I have been fully booked from the rst day I open the doors with a very strong referral base that has been generated out of the patient’s perception that I was doing something di erent to my competitors, and that I had a strong focus on quality dentistry. In the ELearn I list a number of benefits of rubber dam: 1. Rubber dam removes the cheeks, lips, gums and most importantly the tongue from the operating eld. 2.Rubber dam removes peripheral distractions from the operating eld of view and thereby allows the dentist to work in a more relaxed way. 3. Using rubber dam improves visibility. 4. Rubber dam provides a dry environment for today’s bonded dentistry, which means more predictable and reliable bonding. 5. Rubber dam eliminates the ‘moving target’ because it provides a calmer more relaxed and steadier patient – particularly with the use of a mouth prop. 6. Rubber dam reduces dentist/dental assistant stress. Rubber dam also reduces patient stress by creating a degree of separation from the treatment environment. 7. Rubber dam saves time. 8.Rubber dam dramatically reduces cross-contamination risk factors to sta and patients which is currently very important with the global Covid-19 pandemic. 9. e rubber dam barrier ensures that
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