Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to survey the recognition of college-preparatory students who interested and prevented themselves in oral health diseases for dental hygienist in Yeungnam South Korea. Methods : The subjects in this study were 328 students who was seriously worried for career and entrance into a school. The survey period was from August 16th 2011 to November 26th 2011, and the data was collected from the high school students in Yeungnam and the preparatory students who visited S college in Gyeongju. This study was conducted by using the self-reported questionnaire. Results : The result of this study are as follows. 87.2% of the subjects have recognized about the name of dental hygienist, 51.5% have distinguished dental hygienist in the clinic, and 67.4% have recognized about education of dental hygienist that was more than a college graduate. The received services from dental hygienist was scalling(15.6%), assistant of treatment(14.7%), tooth brushing instrument(11.5%), Reception & receipt(11.0%), and etc. The majority of the subjects have recognized that dental hygienist was the professional(4.82 points), the important role in oral health(4.88 points), and the intermediary between patients and dentists(4.60 points). And they were friendly(4.64 points), responsible(4.81 points), and worthwhile job(5.01 points). However their appellation has not been established yet(4.00 points), they was difficult to distinguish from nursing assistants(4.37 points), and their task did not differs from AN(4.53 points). Also they compared to other job was not stressful job(3.58 points). Conclusions : Refer to these results, those will be the basis for professional development and status establish of clinical dental hygienists and for the upright role as a professional medical personnel of dental hygiene students. In addition, those will help to patients in the future, and become an effective instrument to learn knowledge, skill, and service that needed to conduct business.