Lefty dentists and inclusive design

Left-handed dentists remind us how the environments we learn and work within can have a profound impact upon our lives

Next time you’re at the dentist, take a look at the work station and consider whether it would be used as easily by a left-handed person. Photo by Caroline LM, Unsplash.

My dentist and I bonded over a shared characteristic recently, when we discovered we’re both left-handed*. This topic came up when he mentioned how he had everything set up to assist him as a southpaw. He said that everything had been set up for right-handed people when he attended dental school, and when he graduated and was able to set things up to his liking, he noticed he was already a better dentist. His whole training environment had been set up for people unlike himself. Even those dreaded tools, apparently, are designed to be used by right-handed dentists and they rotate differently for left-handed dentists. My dentist said you can reverse the direction of the drills but that they don’t usually operate as well. So he learned to use them with his right hand.

Alerted to this issue, I found multiple articles and detailed studies addressing the subject online. It’s a significant issue reflecting a failure of inclusive design. The only good news is that dental stations and tools are increasingly being designed to be ambidextrous, so they can be used by left-handed or right-handed dentists. The design of these products is changing to meet the needs of a broader market.

Being left-handed isn’t the greatest trial the universe can dole out upon a human being, obviously, but as a left hander you do get used to navigating certain obstacles without thinking about them. The pen you have to sign things with at the bank is often positioned for right-handed people. The machines for swiping your subway card here in New York are exclusively positioned for right-handed people. (An issue only slightly remedied by the new tap-to-pay OMNY systems.) And scissors? Ask left-handed people about scissors. When you’re left-handed, you realize how insensible it is for scissors to be designed exclusively for right-handed people. In fact, when I was living in Pusan, Korea in the mid-90s, I found that ambidextrous scissors were available everywhere, so I bought two pairs and still use them to this day.

If you’re on social media, you may have seen the following graph getting shared a lot recently for very specific…