Mary Kaye Scaramucci, RDH, MS, is a professor in the Department of Dental Hygiene at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. She has been the program's preclinical coordinator for the past 30 years. Scaramucci is a contributing editor for two chapters in Mosby's Dental Hygiene: Concepts, Cases and Competencies, 2nd edition, and one chapter in Essentials of Dental Hygiene from Pearson Prentice Hall.
Our instruments are sharpened once per month at best. What is the average lifespan of hand instruments that are used and sterilized at least twice per day?