• Title/Summary/Keyword: dental hygienist operations

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Job Analysis by Department in Clinical Practice for Realization of Legal Scope of Dental Hygienists: Focusing on Conservation, Pediatric Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Implant Departments

  • Yoon, Mi-Sook
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.230-244
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    • 2020
  • Background: The objective of the present study was to specifically divide the various work performed by dental hygienists in clinical practice for legal amendments regarding problems associated with conflict between job roles and illegal delegation to establish key basic data for legislation and policy utilization for realization of legal scope of dental hygienists. Methods: The study used work reports drafted based on research methods in the "Second Job Analysis Report on Dental Hygienists" researched by the Korean Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute in 2012 and "Opinions of Dentists on Actual and Legal Work of Dental Hygienists," a report published by the Korean Dental Hygienists Association. Of these, the study focused on conservation dentistry, pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and dental implant treatment, which make up some of the fields covered by dental hygiene practice, to investigate and analyzed work performed by clinical experience. Results: Analysis of work actually performed in dental practice showed that for work related to 33 items presented in the study methods, the participants responded that they are currently performing such work or are likely to perform such work in the future, although there were differences by year. Investigation by type of workplace showed that dental hygienists working in university hospitals could perform the work presented if they had ≥5 years of dental hygienist experience, whereas dental hygienists working in dental clinics or hospitals could perform simple duties in their first year and performed more diverse duties with greater degree of difficulty after their second to fourth year. Conclusion: The reality that medical assistance during surgical operations and various procedures that is still being performed is no longer legally protected directly contradicts the needs in dental practice, and thus, there is the need to amend laws that are realistic by clearly recognizing the work of dental hygienists.

A literature review on expansion of dental hygienists' radiography operations (치과위생사의 방사선 촬영업무의 확대에 대한 문헌적 고찰)

  • Choi, Young-Suk;Kim, Jin-Kyoung;Jang, Jong-Hwa;Park, Yong-Duk
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.111-124
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    • 2009
  • This study analyzes through the review of literature and laws the exposure time, clinical frequency, and radiation exposure of intraoral and extraoral radiography as well as of panoramic radiography performed by dental hygienists in dental clinics, compares the dental radiology curriculums of radiological science and dental hygiene departments, and proposes the expansion of dental hygienists' radiography operations. The radiology curriculums were compared between the radiological science and dental hygiene departments of colleges. For new analysis by radiography for dental diagnosis, the exposure time, radiation absorbed dose, effective dose, and number of days of natural radiation were compared by the type of oral radiation films and radiographical techniques proposed by domestic and international studies. The exposure time of panoramic radiography is 15 seconds and it takes about two minutes for completion, whereas the exposure time of the standard radiography is 0.2~0.8 seconds and it takes 10 times longer for completion of the radiography of full mouth than the panoramic radiography. The standard radiography can cause distortions of radiation at severely curved parts of dental arch and palatopharyngeal reflex. However, panoramic radiography can be performed even for lock jaw patients, causes less inconvenience to patients and is much simpler than the standard radiography. The percentage of dental clinics where radiography is performed by dental hygienists was 92.0%, and the percentage of standard film radiography by dental hygienists was 98% whereas the percentage of panoramic radiography by dental hygienists was 92%. For the absorbed dose which is an indicator of radiation exposure, the When the effective dose which is an indicator of the danger of radiation exposure was converted to the number of days of natural radiation, it was 3.3 days for panoramic radiography, but 13.9 days for the full mouth standard radiography by bisecting angle technique which was 4.2 times longer than the panoramic radiography. There were two colleges that had a dental radiology course with two credits in the departments of radiological science. The credits for dental radiology courses in the department of dental hygiene ranged varied by college, ranging from 3 to 8; on average, the theory course was 2.2 credits and the practice course was 2.02 credits. To summarize the above results, the percentage of dental clinics where panoramic radiography is performed by dental hygienists under the guidance of dentists is high. Panoramic radiography has become an essential facility for dental clinics. It is faster than standard film radiography and less dangerous due to low radiation exposure. Panoramic radiography is a simple mechanical job that does not require training of oral radiography by radiotechnologist. Because panoramic radiography is one of major operations which must be performed at all times in dental clinics, it must be designated as intraoral technique rather than extraoral technique, or legalized for inclusion in the scope of operations of dental hygienists.

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A Study on the Work of Dental Hygienists by Service Area (치과위생사의 근무지별 업무실태에 관한 조사 연구)

  • Moon, Kyung-Sook;Hwang, Yoon-Sook;Kim, Young-Kyung;Jung, Jae-Yeon
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.63-83
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    • 2002
  • The purpose of this study was to serve as a basis for more efficient dental hygienist human resources utilization and for determining some of the right directions for supplementary education for dental hygienists, by examining how they actually worked and what they thought of job-related things. The subjects in this study were 537 dental hygienists who participated in a seminar by the Korea Dental Hygienist Association. After a survey was conducted, the following findings were given: 1. 50.2% of the dental hygienists investigated completed legally required eight-class education. Those who worked in clinics took less supplementary education classes than the others in the other types of dental institutions. The main reason they didn't receive supplementary education was financial burden and uncooperative employers. 73.2% took supplementary education at the association or its branches. The association was most favored by those in clinical sector as a place that provides supplementary education, followed by its branch and university in the order named. And the dental hygienists in public health sector preferred university most, and the next best favored one was the association and its branch in the order named. Those in clinical sector hoped to acquire clinical information on patient management, implant or aesthetics, and the dental hygienists in public health sector wanted to learn about health administration, public oral health operations and oral health education, which were different from what those in clinical sector wanted. 2. Regarding the period of service, 492% had worked for three years or more. This fact suggested that their service term and average age continued to grow. And they thought they would decide the retirement time on their own. 3. The most common yearly income ranged from 12 million won to 16 million won(40.7%). For-those in clinics, yearly income was 14.36 million won, and that of the dental hygienists who had worked for less than 3 years was 12.90 million won. 4. The Korea Dental Hygienist Association was most required to protect the rights and interests of the members and offer new knowledge and technology. 5. The largest group of them were engaged in patient management, and this type of job also was the most favored one for them to do. The greatest number of the dental hygienists in public health sector were in charge of dental treatment. 6. Concerning their turnover rate, 492% had never changed their occupation. Specifically, 70.0% of the respondents who had worked for less than 3 years had have no experience to do that. The time constraints for self-development and conflicts with other workers were the cause of their turnover. Those in dental hospital and general hospital changed their occupation chiefly due to the lack of time for self-development, and for the dental hygienists in clinics, the conflicts with other workers were the main reason. The above-mentioned findings suggested that the way the dental hygienists looked at things was undergoing change. The service area made a difference to their preference for the type of supplementary education and institution in charge of it, as those in public health and clinical sectors had a different opinion. And the dental hygienists in clinical sector had a different opinion as well, according to service area, about salaries, reason of not taking supplementary education, preferred type of supplementary education, cause of turnover, and type of occupation to which they hoped to change employment. To utilize and supply human resources in a more stabilized manner, job description should be more segmented, standardized and classified clearly, and dental hygienists should be motivated to perform their substantial jobs, including oral disease prevention, oral prophylaxis and oral health education. To make it happen, it seems that dentists are required to have a clear understanding of dental hygienist job and to change the way they look at it.

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