Asymetrical activity of brain hemispheres is projected through laterality e.g the dominance of one of the paired organs. A very important way of laterality manifestation is left-handedness. Laterality is differently demonstrated in different people. It ranges from outstanding right-handedness or left-handedness to the slight differences in one or another hand domination. The purpose of this study was to determine real hand domination in left-handed dental students and proposes measures for solving the problem in their education.
Method:
The study was conducted at Medical University - Plovdiv, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics. Dental students from year II, III, IV, V, who have the perception of being left-handed, participated voluntarily in this research. The actual hand domination of those students was evaluated by Edinburg Handedness Inventory.
Result:
26 out of 492 dental students are left-handed. Eleven students were evaluated as left-handed, 15 were evaluated as ambidextrous. The students of early years of education (II and III year) were with pronounced lateral hand domination, while the IV and V year undergraduates were ambidextrous.
Conclusion:
Most of the left-handed students are actually ambidextrous because of the right-handed dental equipment they use for their clinical practices. The strongly expressed left-handed dental students are incapable of conversion of the dominant hemisphere, without character or intellectual damages. Even though the number of left-handed students is small, it is necessary to change conditions for their education.