• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
• /
• 제42권4호
• /
• pp.175-180
• /
• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between oral health professionals' knowledge, attitude, and practice with regard to infectious waste management and to identify related factors influencing it. Methods: The study comprised of 219 oral health professionals from select dental clinics and public health centers recruited between August 25, 2016 and September 5, 2016, who agreed to participate in the study with full understanding of the study objectives. A self-reported questionnaire was administered, which consisted of 22 items on knowledge of infectious waste management, 9 items on attitude, and 16 items on practice. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analyses. Results: The age, knowledge, and clinical attitude of oral health professionals significantly correlated with waste management practice. Specifically, infectious waste management practice improved with increasing age, a greater level of knowledge, and a more positive clinical attitude. Additionally, the standardized regression coefficient demonstrated that, of these three factors, clinical attitude more strongly correlated with effective waste management practice, followed by age and level of knowledge. Conclusions: These results indicated that oral health professionals had a low level of knowledge regarding infectious waste management, and a more positive clinical attitude resulted in better practices. Therefore, the development of detailed and active education guidelines and strategies are needed to enhance the attitude, knowledge, and practice of oral health professionals with regard to infectious waste management.

• 한국임상보건과학회지
• /
• 제1권3호
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2013

Purpose. This research is implemented to identify the status of educations about the pricing standard, status of the cognition of the pricing standard, and the solutions to the questions on the pricing standard of the oral health professionals. it will provide the easier accessibility to the annual changes in Dental Health Insurance Standards to the oral health professionals. Methods. The research subjects are the total 204 oral health professionals in limited area, and it was analyzed with structured questionnaires. The collected data is analyzed by IBM SPSS ver. 19.0, a statistical program (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA) for the frequency and percentage, and ANOVA. The result is as following Results. The awareness of dental health insurance standard was statistically significant differences by age (p<0.01), career (p<0.001), the prime task (p<0.01), and dental insurance claimants (p<0.05). The awareness of the standard was statistically significant differences by educational training within last 6 months (p<0.05), the cognition of the standard (p<0.001), and solutions for the questions (p<0.05). Conclusions. As the results of the research, it is necessary to develop the educational program under condition of age, career, main task, and better understanding in Dental Health Insurance Standard for oral health professional.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제8권1호
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2017

Considerable effort has been made to address the issue of occupational health and environmental exposure to mercury. This review reports on the current literature of mercury exposure and health impacts on dental personnel. Citations were searched using four comprehensive electronic databases for articles published between 2002 and 2015. All original articles that evaluated an association between the use of dental amalgam and occupational mercury exposure in dental personnel were included. Fifteen publications from nine different countries met the selection criteria. The design and quality of the studies showed significant variation, particularly in the choice of biomarkers as an indicator of mercury exposure. In several countries, dental personnel had higher mercury levels in biological fluids and tissues than in control groups; some work practices increased mercury exposure but the exposure levels remained below recommended guidelines. Dental personnel reported more health conditions, often involving the central nervous system, than the control groups. Clinical symptoms reported by dental professionals may be associated with low-level, long-term exposure to occupational mercury, but may also be due to the effects of aging, occupational overuse, and stress. It is important that dental personnel, researchers, and educators continue to encourage and monitor good work practices by dental professionals.

• 한국치위생학회지
• /
• 제18권6호
• /
• pp.891-902
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to propose contents of a curriculum and training program for dental hygienists as medical professionals by surveying the opinions of clinical dental hygienists and dental hygiene professors. Methods: The subjects were 192 clinical dental hygienists and 193 dental hygiene professors. They answered questionnaires that consisted of grading each task based on its importance: a) for dental hygiene students to learn, b) to perform autonomously in clinical practice, and c) the expectancy of the task to change when dental hygienists become medical professionals. Data analysis was performed using an independent sample T test to capture differences between clinical dental hygienists and dental hygiene professors. The terms in the answers of open-ended questionnaires were extracted. We used R 3.5.0, R Recommender, and Wordcloud software packages. Results: Calculus removal had the highest scores for dental hygiene students to learn and expectancy to change when dental hygienists become medical professionals. Physiotherapy of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), planning, performing, and assessment of community oral health programs had the lowest scores in autonomy in clinical practice. The dental hygiene professors gave higher scores in most of the tasks for dental hygiene students to learn, autonomy in clinical practice, and expectancy to change, than did clinical dental hygienists. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), job ethics, and communication were the most frequently mentioned terms in the training as medical professionals program contents. Conclusions: In the future, it will be necessary to study the curriculum to improve the proficiency of dental hygienists as medical professionals.

• 한국치위생학회지
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.245-251
• /
• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the oral health awareness and oral health care provided by workers in the long-term elderly care facilities. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 213 workers in long-term elderly care facilities. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics, oral health awareness, oral health behavior, oral health knowledge, oral health care professionals, oral health care, oral health care improvement, and denture care. Except the incomplete answers, 200 data were analyzed by the statistical software of SPSS WIN 18.0. Results: Highly educated people tended to have higher oral health awareness. The workers in the facility maintained the oral health care but they suggested that dental professionals are needed. Conclusions: It is necessary to suggest the oral health care management by dental professionals.

• 대한치과의사협회지
• /
• 제49권12호
• /
• pp.732-738
• /
• 2011

Special needs patient are one of the underserved dental patient groups in Korea. However, Lack of attitudes to oral care and the knowledge of health professionals are identified as barriers to oral health for people with disabilities. Health authorities have a key role in ensuring that the need for a comprehensive dental services is met. This review may help oral health professionals understand the dental considerations according types of disabilities and provide appropriate and necessary dental care for special needs patients.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제5권4호
• /
• pp.181-185
• /
• 2014

Background: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of ergonomics among dental professionals of Hubli-Dharwad twin cities, India. Methods: Investigator-developed, self-administered, closed-ended questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding ergonomics during dental practice was filled in by undergraduates, house surgeons, postgraduates, and faculty members of dental institutions and private practitioners from Hubli-Dharwad twin cities. Results: Data were collected from a total of 250 participants, 50 belonging to each academic group. Overall mean knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were 52%, 75%, and 55%, respectively. Significant correlation was found for age with attitude (${\chi}^2=10.734$, p=0.030) and behavior (${\chi}^2=12.984$, p=0.011). Marital status was significantly associated with all the three domains; knowledge (${\chi}^2=29.369$, p=0.000), attitude (${\chi}^2=29.023$, p=0.000), and practices (${\chi}^2=13.648$, p=0.009). Conclusion: Participants had considerable awareness and behavior toward ergonomics in dental practice. The high attitude score indicates stronger acceptance of ergonomics principles and guidelines during routine dental procedures. The current study highlights the situation of ergonomics in dental practice in the form of knowledge, attitude, and practices.

• 한국치위생학회지
• /
• 제15권3호
• /
• pp.531-538
• /
• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate third and forth year dental students' perception towards dental hygienists as professionals. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 602 dental college students in Korea after receiving the informed consent. Except incomplete answers, 217 data were analyzed. The questionnaire consisted of three questions of the general perception towards dental hygienists, four questions of the cooperation relationship to the dental hygienists, four questions of oral health education, five questions of preventive dental health care, five questions of dental treatment cooperation, and five questions of dental health care management. The data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18.0(SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Most of the dental college students viewed the dental hygienists as professionals. However, they did not exactly know the professional job of dental hygienists within the current national medical services system and they often viewed the dental hygienists as a medical assistant. The dental college students thought that the key role of the dental hygienists is the dental assisting. Only a small fraction of the participants recognized oral health promotion, preventive cares, and hospital management as professional roles of dental hygienists. Conclusions : Dental college students' perception towards dental hygienists as professionals needs to be improved. Understanding the job description of dental hygienists clearly is a crucial part of dental students' learning process and future practice.

• 한국치위생학회지
• /
• 제17권6호
• /
• pp.1013-1024
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The study investigated health professionals working in the metropolitan area and Jeolla-bukdo, South Korea, from April 30 to May 17, 2017 to understand their views on the issue of including dental hygienists in the scope of medical personnel of South Korea. Methods:A total of 270 surveys were analyzed in this study. The survey consists of 5 questions on general issues; 10 on the awareness of present work of dental hygienist; and 1 on opposition or approval about including dental hygienist in medical personnel. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 18.0, as well as frequency analysis, cross analysis and logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance level (${\alpha}$) is 0.05. Results: 1. Broken down by gender, male subjects showed more oppositions against including dental hygienists in the category of medical personnel while female subjects showed more favorable opinions (p<0.05). In terms of academic background, those who had graduated from graduate school or higher showed a higher propensity for opposition while those who had graduated from a 3-year college showed a higher tendency for approval on the idea (p<0.05), In terms of occupational type, health professionals showed more opposing views whereas medical technologists showed more approvals than others (p<0.001). 2. With respect to the awareness of work specialty and proficiency of dental hygienist according to general characteristics, the higher the age, the higher the awareness level was. In terms of the occupational type, medical technologists were found to have higher awareness level than health professionals (p<0.001). 3. With respect to the relationship between general characteristics and view on including dental hygienists in medical personnel, the occupational type of health professional was found to have 6.33 times more oppositions than medical technologists. When the awareness level on proficiency of dental hygienist was low, opposition was 6.52 times more frequent (p<0.05). Conclusions: Based on the findings above, the inclusion of dental hygienists in medical personnel seems necessary in properly establishing the specialty and role of dental hygienist in the dentist medical environment of the country in order to enhance national oral health related preventive dental service and expand the demand. To this end, it is necessary to provide nationwide promotion, work to change the awareness of health professionals in other occupational types, and facilitate public promotion for legal ground establishment.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
• /
• 제21권6호
• /
• pp.557-564
• /
• 2021

Background: Conscious sedation is a useful adjunct in the treatment of patients in dentistry; however, a lack of knowledge among the dental profession regarding sedation is a restricting factor in the practice of dental sedation. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practice of sedation in dentistry among dental professionals in Tanzania. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted for five months targeting all practicing dental professionals in Tanzania. A modified questionnaire contained 14 questions regarding knowledge about sedative agents and a section on the practice of sedation. The data obtained from this study were coded and entered into a computer program and analyzed using SPSS software version 23.0. The data are presented as frequencies and percentages in tables and charts. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: The age range of participants was between 24 and 63 years (mean 36.6 ± 7.7 years). There were 107 men (78.1%), and the male-to-female ratio was 3.6:1. The majority (76.6%) of participants only had an undergraduate dental degree. Thirty-one percent of participants only worked in publicly owned health facilities. Slightly more than half (59.9%) of participants had satisfactory knowledge regarding sedation in dentistry. There was no statistically significant association between the level of sedation-related knowledge and the demographic characteristics of the participants. Only 21.9% reported using sedation in their practice, and the most commonly used sedative drug was diazepam. The reasons for not using dental sedation in clinical practice included a perceived lack of knowledge on sedation, lack of equipment, and cost. Conclusion: Most dental professionals in Tanzania have basic knowledge of sedation in dentistry, although knowledge regarding sedative agents is generally low. The practice of sedation in dentistry in Tanzania is very low compared to that in middle- and high-income countries. Inadequate knowledge, lack of equipment, and the cost of practicing sedation are the main reasons for not practicing sedation.