An Illustrative Example of Education and Health Care Working Together

The University of Colorado recently highlighted an example of how education and health care worked together to help protect a dental student’s hearing. This dental student was interested in seeking out hearing health care after a ‘Lunch and Learn.’

At this educational session, Caylin McCallick, AuD, discussed the noise levels of dental handpieces and the potential impacts on hearing. Dr. McCallick recommended that the dental students get custom earplugs to protect their hearing. Unsure of where to go, this dental student sought out advise from her nurse practitioner, Emily Cheshire, DNP.

While this nurse practitioner was not previously aware of the information shared by Dr. McCallick about dental handpieces, but took this opportunity to seek out more material on this recommendation. The nurse practitioner ultimately referred this dental student to an audiologist for a hearing evaluation and fitting of custom earplugs.

Cheshire now routinely talks about this issue with her patients who are dental students.  

Reference

Sherman D. (2021) “Say what?” Dental students learn high-pitched drills double the risk of hearing loss among dentists (accessed October 3, 2021).