Practice dentistry pain-free: evidence-based strategies to prevent pain and extend your career

  • B. Valachi
USA: Posturedontics (http://www.posturedontics.com ) price $39.95; pp 238 ISBN 9780980077803 | ISBN: 978-0-9800-7780-3

Practice dentistry pain-free is an A5 sized book which at 239 pages long makes for a fairly slim book. It is written by Bethany Valachi who is a physical therapist and ergonomic consultant in the USA. She speaks internationally on ergonomics related specifically to dentistry and is actively involved in research on the subject. For clarification, this book title can be misleading and for those of you thinking it is about giving painless anaesthesia and alternative pain control techniques, it is in fact about preventing pain via ergonomics and extending your career.

The book consists of 12 chapters ranging from posture, different types of pain (eg back ache and carpal tunnel etc) and then their subsequent recognition and management. Unsurprisingly, a large part of this book is related to prevention with big chapters on ergonomics and exercises. One of the points mentioned is that dentists shouldn't play golf; quite how many will follow this advice remains to be seen! The chapters themselves are laid out in small paragraphs with subheadings and have plenty of black and white pictures and diagrams. Important topics are enclosed in grey boxes with bullet points to keep it simple.

The book is surprisingly well written, with chapters easy to follow. Importantly, instead of being the preaching of an American physical therapist, there are concise, logical points based on sound evidence that is referenced at the end of the book. The chapters based on the sources of pain and treatment are better written than those on dental topics and unfortunately the description of some of the exercises can be difficult to follow. There is advice on dental equipment such as purchasing loupes and chairs but it is frustratingly vague and of little practical use to those considering purchasing equipment.

Where this book excels is that it's not just for dentists – it's for the dental team. There are sections for dental assistants and for receptionists with simple techniques that are easy to put into practice.

In summary this is quite a good book. It is light enough and simple enough to be easily understood and offers simple preventative advice for typical causes of pain. It would be of limited use to those in hospital and I'd instead recommend it as a book worthy of a place on your dental bookshelf in practice.