• Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Administration
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to identify future-oriented tasks for Korean dental hygienists based on a literature review. A literature search is performed using 14 keywords related to tasks carried out by dental hygienists, and included articles published from 2000 to 2019 in the databases KISS, RISS, DBpia, NDSL, Papersearch, Pubmed, and Google Scholar. Six reviewers assessed the titles and abstracts of articles, and an article was selected if the study was considered to cover future-oriented tasks for Korean dental hygienists. Based on the results six local studies and two foreign studies were used for literature review and data extraction. In total, 38 tasks were classified as future-oriented tasks of dental hygienists according to the following criteria: 1) tasks that were specifically referred to as future-oriented tasks, and 2) tasks that could be classified as future-oriented tasks although no specific reference was made. Of these, the most frequently mentioned tasks were measuring periodontal pocket depth, dental hygiene assessment, providing dietary advice, infiltration anesthesia, and root planing. These were extracted from five of the eight studies, including both local and foreign studies. Dental hygiene planning, emergency, emergency management, and smoking cessation were the next most common tasks based on four studies. Even though some of these future-oriented tasks for Korean dental hygienists are included in the dentistry curriculum, and are currently performed as clinical practice for dental hygienists. Nonetheless, the reference to the legal scope is unclear. It is necessary to reconsider the scope of tasks of dental hygienists to reflect changes in domestic and foreign dental care delivery, thereby contributing to the oral health promotion of the public, where safety is guaranteed under legal protection.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Administration
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2018

This study aimed to assess dental hygiene students' and other medical personnel's knowledge of dental hygienists' legal responsibilities. A self-reported questionnaire was conducted for 2 weeks from March 25 to April 9, 2017. One of the main questions focused on the legal scope of practice for dental hygienists according to current medical technicians. A total of 298 subjects' responses were analyzed. We found that 62.1% of the respondents were aware of dental hygienists' legal responsibilities. Of the dental hygiene students surveyed, 93.6% replied that they were aware of other medical personnel's expectations. Responses to 12 legal questions were shown to have different distributions depending upon the level of dental hygienist education. Overall, knowledge of dental hygienist legal responsibilities was more comprehensive for senior students in each legal topic. However, few students (1.7%) answered all 12 legal questions correctly. In conclusion, dental hygiene students' awareness of their profession's legal scope should be improved. In addition, the Korean Dental Hygienists Association needs to more actively promote understanding of the profession's legal scope as well as of medical personnel's expectations of dental hygienists' legal roles.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Administration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.14-24
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• 2021

Dentists and dental hygienists are major collaborators, as expressed by the concept of "Four-handed dentistry." Dentists are guaranteed their legal duties and rights in accordance with the Medical Act, whereas dental hygienists are currently stipulated in the scope of their legal duties under the Act on Medical Technicians. However, there is a difference between the actual work and the legal work performed by dental hygienists; therefore, the work is dependent on many legal controversies and authoritative interpretations. The purpose of this study is, first, to develop a reliable questionnaire tool regarding the actual work performed by dental hygienists in dental hospitals and clinics, and second, to examine the awareness of the appropriateness of legal work based on the developed questionnaire. The target subjects of the survey were dental hygienists and dentists, and the dental hygienists were those who worked in dental hospitals and clinics as license reporters of the Korean Dental Hygienists Association. A total of 1,294 dental hygienists and 39 dentists were included in the final analysis. In the dental hygienist group, 19 items received the response "appropriate for legal work" in over 90% of cases, accounting for 25% of the total 76 items. In addition, in a total of 31 items, more than 80% of the responses were appropriate for legal work. Among them, the highest was 'Scailing' (97.7%), followed by "Extraoral-Panorama" (97.1%). In the dentist group, 10 out of 76 items showed over 90% adequacy for legal work, and among them, "instrument cleaning and sterilization" was the highest at 100%. It was followed by "Intraoral radiography," "Scailing," and "Toothpick method, TPM" with 97.4%. In the case of dentists, 28 out of a total of 76 items showed an appropriateness of more than 80% for legal work. This study comprehensively investigated the actual work of dental hygienists in line with timely and appropriate social issues and provided reliable statistics in evidence-based dentistry.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2012

Critical thinking is a essential competency for dental hygiene education and practice. The purpose of this study was to examine critical thinking disposition between groups classified by GPA score in two dental hygiene educational program. A total 252 dental hygiene students responded. The study extracted six dimensions(intellectual eagerness/curiosity, prudence, healthy skepticism, intellectual integrity, objectivity, self-confidence) derived from 27 items with the exception of systematicity using factor analysis. The mean score for critical thinking disposition was 3.47 on a 5 point scale. The result showed a statistically significant correlation critical thinking disposition and age. Multivariate analysis of covariance(MANCOVA) was used to compare six subscales between the three groups. MANCOVA results revealed that intellectual eagerness/curiosity for three groups were significantly different(Wilks's lamda=0.914, F(6, 24)=1.869), p=0.01, partial eta square=0.044). Multiple comparison for intellectual eagerness/curiosity by Scheffe's method showed differences between high score group and mid score group(p=0.027), high score group and low score group(p=0.002). In this study, academic achievement and critical thinking tends to show significant correlations is known. Critical thinking skills by examining the actual grade compares the difference in propensity scores according to a case study in intellectual curiosity, passion, and could tell the difference to appear.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2006

As the number of old people grows in today's modern society, dental hygienist's role is more emphasized than ever before for oral hygiene management of the aged. It is also important to find out college students' knowledge, attitude and behavior towards the elderly. Therefore, this study is conducted through interview with college students who are majoring in dental hygiene of health care in Busan and will be in charge of oral hygiene. According to the interview, this study obtains the following results: 1. The level of undergraduate students' knowledge of old people shows a total score of $14.53{\pm}2.35$ (correct response rate is 69.9%). 2. The average score of undergraduate students' attitude towards old people is in a neutral range(50~70), recording 63.12(${\pm}7.22$) on a scale of 100. 3. The average score of undergraduate students' behavior towards old people is lower than a neutral range(43~60), recording 39.09(${\pm}13.43$) on a scale of 85 and showing negative behavior. 4. Experience of living together with the elderly and participating in volunteer jobs lead to significant differences in undergraduate students' attitude towards old people. 5. Experience of living together with the elderly causes significant differences in undergraduate students' behavior towards old people. That is, undergraduate students living together with the elderly show a positive behavior towards old people. 6. Undergraduate students' knowledge shows a strong positive relationship with their attitude, but it has a bit positive correlation with behavior even though there are no statistically significant differences between knowledge and behavior. No relationship is found between behavior and attitude. That is, undergraduate students have more positive attitude as their knowledge of the elderly is higher, but their behavior is not positive.