• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to improve awareness of male dental hygiene by investigating the dentists' perception of male dental hygienists' image and work performance in clinical practice. Methods: The participants were 102 dentists who agreed to participate in this study. They completed- a self-administered questionnaire survey available on a website. The questionnaire comprised 26 questions, with each item scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: The male dentists perceived that with an increase in the experience of male dental hygienists would be willing to pay more than for female dental hygienists. In the case of male dentists, male dental hygienists perceived that they would feel stressed in a women-centered work environment. Additionally, it was found that dentists who had experience working with Male dental hygienists responded more positively to work performance awareness than had no experience (p<0.05). Conclusions: Active employment of male dental hygienists in clinical practice, could positively change dentists' perception of male dental hygienists.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.281-293
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• 2018

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the requirements for the clinical dental tasks in the dental hygienists using the frequency of dental hygienists' tasks in the Korean dental clinics, and to provide them with the core competencies for achieving these. Methods: This study was based on evaluation of a self-reported survey. The dental hygienists were investigated upon classification of their tasks into direct and assistant performances, and the dentists were investigated by the competency level of the dental hygienists. The data from 481 clinical dental hygienists and 67 dentists were used for final analysis in this study, excluding the subjects who provided incomplete or inappropriate responses to the survey. The collected data were analyzed by frequency analysis. Results: The clinical dental core competency tasks of the dental hygienists were divided into 4 tasks for common dentistry, 4 for periodontics, 5 for conservative dentistry, 5 for pediatric dentistry, 5 for dental prosthodontics, and 3 for dental orthodontics. Clinical dental core competency tasks of the dental hygienists were performed more frequently of tasks performance than 8.0, and dentists required competence level was similar to that of most dental hygienists clinical dental core competencies. Conclusions: It is necessary to check whether the curricula of the universities include the competencies for the students enough to perform the corresponding tasks and the core competencies need to be reflected in the curricula. The clinical dental core competencies need to be agreed by dental hygienists, and it is necessary to be organized as the evaluation guide of the institute of dental hygiene education and evaluation and utilized as the national examination.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.505-513
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of independent dental hygiene practices in the Korean public dental hygienists. Methods: This research was a cross-sectional survey study. 159 Korean public dental hygienists were selected by simple random sampling on March 10, 2017. 133 public dental hygienists were participated, after excluding 26 hygienists who showed insufficient responses. The respondents were asked to select one of the following options to reflect their needs: direct supervision, indirect supervision, and independent dental hygiene practice. Results: The results showed that the public dental hygienists wanted both public oral health practices (62.5%) and assistance in preventive dental treatments (63.4%) to be performed independently. Conclusions: The public dental hygienists were required to independently perform oral health education and fluoride mouth rinsing projects. Dental hygienists should improve their capability of independently practicing dental hygiene first, and then indicators. It should be established and measured to evaluate their competency in this respect. Legal protection should be considered for independent dental hygiene practices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.506-515
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• 2015

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the status of hazard communication regarding dental materials among dental hygienists in the Daegu Metropolitan City and the North Gyeongsang-do Province area. Materials: A total of 310 dental hygienists were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires to investigate the status of hazard communication on dental materials and information needs. We collected instructions for use and material safety data sheets(MSDSs) for 67 dental materials frequently used at dental hospitals located in the Daegu Metropolitan City and the North Gyeongsang-do Province area. Results: The questionnaire surveys showed that only 11% of the 310 dental hygienists had knowledge of MSDS and 46.8% of respondents never read instructions for use before using materials. Just 7.4% of dental hygienists have undergone training on hazard information for dental materials. In particular, dental hygienists working at dental clinics had significantly lower response rates on knowledge of MSDS(p<0.001), reading of instructions for use(p=0.042) and training on the hazard information of dental materials(p=0.004) than those in dental hospitals or general hospitals. The essential information most desired by dental hygienists was hazard identification(82.3%) followed by first-aid measures(53.9%), handling and storage(51%), disposal considerations (49%) and toxicological information(47.1%). All dental materials were on foreign products which came from Japan(59.7%), the USA(26.9%) and Liechtenstein(13.7%). In terms of usage, 56.7% of dental materials were prosthetic, followed by conservation(31.3%), orthodontics(9%), and prevention(3%). We found that dental hygienists had accessed MSDSs for only five dental products among the 67 dental materials. The instructions for the use of the 67 dental materials provided hazard identification(64.2%), first-aid measures(83.6%), handling and storage(97%), disposal considerations(20.9%) and toxicological information(26.9%). Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the hazard communication system for dental hygienists working at dental clinics should be improved.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.891-902
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• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.127-140
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• 2012

This study involved an investigation of perception of dental hygienists based on a self-reported survey of a sample of 230health care personnel working at long-term care hospitals located in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The primary objective was to provide basic data for establishing various policies related to building up a positive image of dental hygienists as a profession. The results were as follows. 79.1% of the respondents recognized dental hygienists as a profession. Among the titles for a dental hygienist, "teacher" was the most common with 47.4% of all. Female respondents and respondents who were able to discern between dental hygienists and nursing assistants were more likely to perceive dental hygienists positively than male respondents and ones who were not, respectively. Among social perceptions of dental hygienists was there a negative finding, that is, there was no appropriate title to address dental hygienists. This negative finding indicates that there is a vital need to enhance the perception of who are dental hygienists as a professionals level at the individual as well as institutional level.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2020

Purpose : The purpose of this study was that For high school students in Busan, in order to provide basic data in selecting dental hygienists by establishing the correct perception and image of dental hygienists by identifying the image of dentists and career doctors who will choose dental hygienists. Methods : The comparison of group differences with dental hygienists' images was analyzed with independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. Correlation between image factors of dental hygienists was analyzed using Pearson's correction coefficient. Results : The image for dental hygienists averaged 3.87 points overall, while the average for each area of the image was 4.09 points for professional images, 4.07 points for business images, 4.08 points for personal images and 3.28 points for social images. When choosing a career path, 18.8 percent said they would not consider dental hygiene, and if they said they would consider dental hygiene, both work, professional, personal and social images were significantly high (p<.05). Professional and professional images (r=.975, p<.05) in the correlation between factors of dental hygienist images, personal and professional images (r=.942, p<.05), social and professional images (r=.865, p<.05), business and personal images (r=.924, p<.05), business image and social image (r=.858, p<.05), personal and social images (r=.882, p<.05) expressed a statistically significant amount of correlation. Conclusion : The study found that high school students' image of dental hygienists was rather positive, but their social image was rather low, and most students did not consider dental hygiene. Therefore, specific measures will be needed to build a desirable image for dental hygienists and positively recognize dental hygienists with active promotion and career experience for dental hygienists in the future.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.75-82
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• 2022

Background: Dental hygienists study dental radiology through the dental hygiene department and curriculum, and most of the radiography work in dental clinics is performed by dental hygienists; however, the legal work regulations for dental hygienists place restrictions on the type of radiography performed. This study aimed to identify the actual conditions of the radiographic work performed by dental hygienists and to determine the difference according to the type of hospital. Methods: This study included 195 dental hygienists working at dental medical institutions in the metropolitan area. A survey was conducted on regarding the radiographic work performed and the clinical career of the main performers. The radiography work was divided into periapical radiography, bite-wing radiography, occlusal radiography, panoramic radiography, computed tomography (CT), and cephalometric radiography. Results: The frequency of performing intraoral radiography was as follows: periapical radiography, 94.9%; bite-wing radiography, 93.8%; and occlusal radiography, 77.9%. The frequency of performing extraoral radiography was 94.4% for panoramic radiography, 89.7% for CT, and 73.3% for cephalometric radiography. The frequency of internal and external radiography performance was higher among hygienists in dental clinics than among those in dental hospitals and university hospitals. The analysis of the dental hygienists' clinical experience in the areas of intraoral and extraoral radiography showed that those working at university hospitals, dental hospitals, and dental clinics had over 5 years, 2~4 years, and 1 year of clinical experience, respectively. The hygienists with less than 1 year of clinical experience showed high performance frequency (p<0.05). Conclusion: For the dental hygienists to perform radiography safely, a discussion regarding the revision of related laws and regulations is warranted.

• International Journal of Clinical Preventive Dentistry
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.235-240
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine about dental hygienists' myofascial pain syndrome, lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), medial and lateral epicondylitis, hand-arm vibration syndrom and work-related musculoskeletal syndrome (WMSD) experience and hygienists' posture, motion. Methods: The self-administered questionnaire was surveyed from June 1 to September 30 of 2018 targeting 280 dental hygienists in Gyeongnam province and 266 dental hygienists' answers were analyzed. Results: The average daily working hours of a dental hygienist was more than eight hours 59.0%, with an average of 33 patients per day. The average number of patients who receive treatment for more than 30 minutes is 15. The angle of motion of the subjective evaluation was above 60%. Medical position and form of movement were more than 50% above the standard level. Symptoms of posture and motion that cause WMSD were hand-arm vibration syndrome 68.1%, myofascial pain syndrome 58.6%, lower back pain 51.1%, CTS 50.4% in order. Experience WMSD related symptoms which dental hygienists experience were myofascial pain syndrome 92.9%, CTS 57.9%, lower back pain 56.4%, medial and lateral epicondylitis 37.2%, hand-arm vibration syndrome 24.4%. Conclusion: The above results showed the posture and motion of dental hygienists and were found that the experience rate which dental hygienists experience WMSD of myofascial pain syndrome, Lower back pain, and CTS was significantly more than 56%.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.535-542
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the professionalism and job satisfaction of clinical dental hygienists. Methods : The subjects were 310 dental hygienists in private and group practiced dental clinics. A self-reported questionnaire was conducted from December, 2012 to February, 2013. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 12.0. Results : Dental hygienists revealed the highest score in a sense of calling (3.41) and the lowest score in professionalism (2.85). They showed the highest score in the relationship with dentists (3.56) and the lowest score in pay (2.83). Highly educated and aged dental hygienists wanted to get more clinical career as professionalist. So there was a very significant positive correlation between professionalism and job satisfaction. Conclusions : Dental hygienists showed job satisfaction. Therefore it is important to develop the linking system of professionalsim and human resources development program.