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One of Andrew’s favorite people in both dentistry and life, Dr. Joy Void-Holmes, joins the podcast today as a co-host for a fascinating interview with Dr. Sam Shamardi. The founder of Dental Innovations LLC, a company aimed at providing novel solutions to unaddressed issues within dentistry, Dr. Shamardi also lectures nationally and internationally on topics within periodontics and hearing loss in dentistry. He is also an author, is recognized as a dental entrepreneur for his revolutionary EarAid product, and possesses an overwhelming desire to help others which shines through brilliantly during the conversation here today.
Dr. Shamardi begins by sharing a glimpse into his life story, and then proceeds to offer a masterclass on the subject of noise induced hearing loss, particularly in the world of dentistry. Along the way, he touches upon what’s contributing to it, the ADA’s actions regarding it, addressing it through dental professional education, its impact upon systemic health. He also delves into the frequency and decibels to look for in equipment, the difference between passive and active hearing protection, and how his device compares with other products. Dubbed ‘dentistry’s deafening silence’, noise induced hearing loss is something that people do not even realize is happening to them, and yet can have a catastrophic impact upon their lives. Listen in today as Dr. Sam Shamardi shines a spotlight on this little publicized, and completely preventable, threat to our overall health, providing you with everything you need to know to protect yourself from it.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
Interview starts: 9:13
- Dr. Shamardi’s life story
- The lack of attention to noise induced hearing loss in dentistry
- How to know when you are losing your hearing
- What’s contributing to hearing loss in dentistry
- Why it has not been addressed
- The ADA’s response to it
- Addressing hearing and hearing loss in schools
- Testing dental instrument sound levels
- PPE for hearing
- Systemic health effects
- What frequency levels and decibels to look for in equipment
- The difference between passive and active hearing protection
- How Dr. Shamardi’s device compares with other products
- Dr. Shamardi’s The Financial Survival Guide for Dentists
QUOTES:
“It’s not something that you notice. It’s not something that you even know is happening to you.”
“As dental professionals we are literally in the eye of the storm.”
“Once you’ve reached the stage where you, yourself, actually notice that you feel like you’re not hearing things as well anymore, by that point you’ve actually entered what’s called ‘Stage 3’ of hearing loss.”
“The number you want to keep in mind is 85 decibels.”
“For us as dental professionals, it’s the combination of, we already are in that environment where the equipment that we use is well above the limit of what causes hearing damage. And then, the second part is we are in that environment for a very long period of time.”
“They don’t realize that…it’s something that’s completely preventable.”
“It should start with the schools, right?”
“The actual noise is adding to our stress.”
“Noise is now playing a factor, not just in what it’s doing to our ears, but it’s also playing a direct factor in what is also contributing to our overall…health.”
“Moderate or severe noise-induced hearing loss were also associated with increased cardiovascular death.”
“The chronic effects of being exposed to these noises carry with you even after retirement.”
“It’s the 85 or above that we have to worry about.”
“That circuitry is actually able to instantaneously identify, isolate, and then lower the sound of anything that is in the decibel or frequency range which will actually cause the hearing damage.”
“The goal at the end of the day: try and help people out, educate everybody on things that are important and, you know, things that we should frankly know more about but don’t.”
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