Dental Dress Code: What to Wear and Why?
As healthcare professionals, it’s crucial to wear the right gear to work, as it plays a vital role in acting as a barrier in precarious conditions like labs or clinics. Meanwhile, the dental dress code is often underrated, but the right apparel has substantial impacts on patients. Dental coats, popularly known as lab coats, are workwear with deep pockets and a lapel collar. Also, some dentists prefer dental scrubs and change to one soon after they are at the clinic. However, lab coats over scrubs are preferable since they offer full coverage and sterility.
What Outwears Does a Dentist Need?
Dentists must keep away from inappropriate dressing during work and while attending to patients for several reasons. That being said, the white coat culture began during the early years, and the prime reason they were worn was to avoid cross infections from patients to professionals. Hygiene and sterility become essential since transmission rates are higher in hospital conditions. Furthermore, lab coats and scrubs made out of linen or cotton are sterile and offer shielding benefits, as they keep away microbes and other agents and prevent them from entering regular clothes or directly coming in contact with the body. So today, lab coats are available in versatile colours from blue to green and even pink. Scrubs also come in versatile colours and, getting a uniform colour for your dentistry staff is also a brand identification strategy.
As dentists and healthcare professionals, you might also need other protective equipment as part of PPE, like sterile safety gloves and masks. Goggles or other eye protective guards are also essential for dentists to prevent saliva splashes during intricate procedures. And on the bottom line, if you have just started to practice dentistry, it’s better to have some lab coats and scrubs stacked for everyday use.
Why Should You Wear a Lab Coat?
Today, dental coats have become the factor via which patients recognise dentists and professionals from the rest of the staff members. Also, it acts as a symbol of authority and defines your position as a dentist. So, here is a list of perks you can enjoy, from wearing a lab coat at work:
1. Enhances Professionalism
As frontline workers and healthcare experts, patients tend to identify dentists with the help of their attire, and in this case, it’s the white coat. These coats influence patients’ minds and imbue the feeling that they are at professional help. White coats also enhance doctor-patient communication, paving the way for further diagnosis and procedures, which must happen hassle-free. Some studies even suggest that most patients prefer their doctors wearing a lab coat, and they feel more relaxed in such instances.
2. Your Safety Matters
Since dentistry involves treating tooth and related problems, the chances that you might catch a latent infection from your patient is high. That being said, lab coats are long enough to cover your upper body. Also, they are sterile and keep away pathogens, saliva or air transmitted microbes from harboring your skin or clothes. And most coats made out of certified polycotton are also fire-resistant and aid in escaping accidental injuries.
As dentists, you might have to work with chemicals and disinfecting agents that can cause harm to your skin on accidental spillages. For example, SDFs are inevitable in dentistry and can elicit allergic reactions if you have a silver allergy. Sterilising or disinfecting scalers and curettes using phenols, bleaches, and alcohol can also be risky when done without proper protective gear.
3. Matches Your Comfort Expectation
Wearing breathable dental coats aid in wicking sweat and keeping you sticky-free while performing exhausting procedures. So, always go for coats that do not offer a snuggle fit as your movement can get restrained. Lastly, lab coats that repel stains keep your clothes clean even after a long day.
