Abstract
Introduction: All work of dental hygienists in Korea is to be carried out under the supervision of a dentist, but the main tasks of dental hygienists are systematic and sufficiently trained within the college curriculum. The purpose of this study was to compare the curriculum between the Department of Dental Hygiene and the Department of Dentistry to provide a basis for legal revision of the dental hygienist's unique work. Methods: The curriculum was acquired from the homepage of the Department of Dental Hygiene and Dentistry. The curriculum in 23 of 28 dental hygiene schools and 6 of 11 dental schools was identified on the homepage. The swere classified based on the scope of dental hygienist work. Results: The Department of Dentistry has more than twice the number of credits and subjects compared to the Department of Dental Hygiene, and the top subjects belong to the treatment and rehabilitation of dental diseases. However, in the field of preventive dentistry, which is a unique work of dental hygienists, the Department of Dental Hygiene has a score of 9.3 times higher than that of dentistry. In the public oral health field, the oral health education field, and the dental management field, dental hygienists scored twice as high as dentists. Conclusion: Since dental hygienists are receiving more education than dentists in the areas of preventive dentistry, public oral health, oral health education, and dental management, which are unique tasks, it is suggested that the work can be performed independently without supervision of the dentist.
