RDH prophy instrument for dental hygienists—the Freehand Ring
Director’s notes about filming the dental hygienists’ Freehand Ring:
I had a great time working with RDH Alisha Luman—spotlighting her invention for dental hygienists, the Freehand Ring. Alisha was frustrated with the inefficient workflow of using gauze during a prophy (it gets stuck and it often falls), so she got a 3D printer, learned CAD/CAM, and built a prototype. Five years of work, partnering with engineers, and a lot of family support, she created a pretty-impressive innovation. Special thanks to North Scottsdale Endodontics & Implantology (Dr. Thomas McClammy) for the use of his gorgeous and spacious office, and for the help and hospitality of Dr. McClammy’s lead dental assistant Vic (who also has the skills to work video production). Last, thanks to fellow director and filmmaker Jay Williams for helping out with the shoot. Pleasure working with you, Jay!
If you’re in the dental profession, check out what Alisha’s come up with…it’s pretty slick!
I also created a short, social media version for Alisha (36 seconds) on YouTube at https://youtu.be/pTh3t0rpQTk
About the Freehand Ring for RDHs:
The Freehand Ring, an autoclavable multi-use ring worn during dental procedures. The ring contains two separate disposable inserts. The first is a foam insert that provides a safe and reliable surface to wipe excess debris collected during instrumentation from the tips of your instruments. The second is a dual well insert (2 compartments) which conveniently holds materials such as fluorides, polishing pastes, desensitizing solutions any type of pastes, liquids or gels applied into the oral cavity.
The Freehand Ring was developed by Alisha and Jeremy Luman. Alisha, a dental hygienist, realized a need for a more efficient, safe and time-saving alternative to the traditional way of cleaning debris from instrument tips during instrumentation. This spawned the original design which included the foam insert only. Realizing their original concept could be taken even further, they researched designs in which the Freehand Ring could also hold substances like pastes, liquids and gels that are to be applied into the oral cavity, and they arrived at the Dual Well concept. After multiple trial-and-error processes, they fine-tuned the final product design and the Freehand Ring was born. Although the original product concept specifically had dental hygienists in mind, the Freehand Ring has enormous flexibility and can be utilized by any dental professional, especially when working alone.
Pura Dental Products, LLC was created to bring the Freehand Ring and other future dental product innovations to market, and is currently the distributor of the Freehand Ring out of Scottsdale, AZ. Alisha has been working in the dental field since 2001, starting as a dental assistant and becoming a dental hygienist in 2010.
Other videos you might want to check out:
Jesse Cejudo, Phoenix table tennis player.
Scottsdale general dentist, Dr. Sadia Zubari.
