Pilot Safety Secrets for Dentists
Susan Crandell

Lidocaine, check. Probe, check. Suction, check.

If you're lucky, you may be hearing that refrain in your dentist's office one day soon. Research done at the University of Michigan by three dentists, two of whom are pilots, found that two hallmarks of airline safety can increase the safety and success of dental procedures: checklists and crew resource management.

Here's why:

Success Key No. 1: The Value of Checklists

Using a checklist is one of the best ways to mitigate human error, according to Russell Taichman, a doctor of dental medicine and co-author of the study.

"A checklist is a backstop," he says. "It allows you to concentrate on the task at hand, knowing that the basic details have been attended to."

Checking off items like the following can help your dentist make dental checkups more efficient:

- Has your medical history been updated?

- Have potential drug interactions been checked?

- Have you been taking the proper medication before dental surgery?

- Have all contaminated materials been cleared away between patients?

Success Key No. 2: The Benefits of Teamwork

Crew resource management (CRM) is another great tool borrowed from pilots, says doctor of dental surgery and study co-author Harold Mark Pinsky, who flies for a major airline. It's a safety protocol that defines "how you work as a team."

In commercial aviation, CRM encourages other members of the flight crew to speak up and even question the captain when they see something going wrong. Airlines implemented CRM three decades ago to address human error, a contributing factor in many airplane accidents. The new research suggests that dentists should take a page from airline pilots' playbook and use CRM in their own offices.

Dentists should encourage their staff to feel empowered, says Pinsky. "If the dentist is too authoritarian, the assistant won't speak up when she sees something is wrong.

What if you, as a patient, suspect that your dentist is making an error? "You've got to speak up," says Taichman. "If you catch a mistake when it's happening, it can be addressed before it becomes unmanageable."

Taichman says that it's a cultural shift: It won't happen overnight, but it can happen step-by-step. You can help speed along the process: Before your next checkup, print out this article and show it to your dentist. He may be surprised by your initiative, but when his service becomes flawless and his reputation better, he'll thank you.

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/blackred

Susan Crandell writes about health for such magazines as Prevention and Ladies' Home Journal. She is the founding editor of More, a magazine for women in their 40s and 50s and the author of Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife.

More on better dental checkups from our sponsor

Available at Amazon.com:

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

No More Digestive Problems