Skylab Dental Equipment

The seventies introduced a new era of space travel where astronauts took part in manning flights into earth orbit accompanied by advanced dental equipment for the duration of the Skylab missions. The in flight medical support system or IMSS was created primarily for the Skylab space travels and the military dentists working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA saw to it that a dental component be included. Astronauts who took part in space travel during the Skylab missions had the necessary dental equipment they needed for the three man crews who were sent off from 28 to 56 days per flight. When you would like to get more information on sydney orthodontist check out this site.

 

According to one of the military dentists at that time the logic for the equipment was to provide the necessary treatment for all ailments that could be handled on an outpatient basis. The equipment cannot and should not in any way be treated as if they were buddy kits or do it yourself kits. For the three man crew that will engage in a mission lasting 28 days the risk for any dental problems occurring is a mere one percent and this served as the basis for the treatment concept developed for the Skylab project. Ineffectiveness on the job due to serious dental problems like pulpitis or periodontal abscess is the main concern when it comes to the risk for possible dental mishaps while in space.

 

When minor dental problems surface the possibilities of chipped teeth and the like can reach five percent. The dental equipment for the IMSS includes tooth removal forceps, elevator, local anesthetic with syringe, periodontal curette, restorative material applicator, file, battery powered light source with mirror, selvage gauze, Gigli saw, and temporary restorative material. The restorative material needed to be created to fit certain specifications for space travel and so the Air Force den corps came up with a perfect solution. Even in zero gravity an astronaut can mix the material.

 

The equipment passed a rigorous series of tests making it suitable for the Skylab project and to ensure that the crew members will have no problems during the mission itself NASA also conducted intensive training programs regarding the use of the equipment that lasted for two days. Flight crews gained basic procedural knowledge from the training provided by NASA as the sessions only considered problems that are not more complicated than tooth removal. When the need for dental treatment arises the flight crew can rely on the integrated dental manual that will be placed on the space vehicle carrying various illustrations on diagnosis, procedures, and oral structures obtained from personal radiographs for each crew member. You can get the best teeth braces sydney information by visiting this website.

 

There will always be a dentist available in mission control equipped with all the materials that may be needed by the astronauts from oral casts to files containing narrative summaries of all dental procedures done to astronauts since 1966. The major requirement for any dental procedure to be done on a space vehicle is to have the approval of an on ground dental officer and so constant communication is necessary between the astronauts and ground control.

 

Regardless if they are part of the program some people fail to see the practicality of training the astronauts to perform basic dental procedures and so they tend to have reservations about the idea. Even if one of the crew members experiences much pain they may not be given much sympathy for their agonizing ordeal when a space mission is threatened especially when the people lose millions in the process. The conclusion to the argument regarding dental procedures in space is that these will only be considered as a last point of action.


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This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 7:36 am and is filed under White Teeth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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