• 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 dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2017

This study aims to determine the changes in health beliefs and practices of dental hygienists on infection control after having received special training on that subject. The study population consisted of dental hygienists working at the dental institutions located in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. The intervention group and the control group each had randomly assigned 26 dental hygienists. The intervention group received training courses on infection control once a week for 3 hours, for a total of 4 training sessions. We used a survey tool to find the changes between the two groups regarding their health beliefs and practices on infection control measures. The survey was conducted prior to the training sessions, 3 months and 2 weeks after the training. The study results revealed statistically significant increases in perceived sensitivity, perceived seriousness, and perceived benefits after the training courses in the intervention group (p<0.05). A statistically significant decrease in perceived barriers was also noted in the intervention group (p<0.05). Additionally, there was a statistically significant increase in the practice of infection control in the intervention group as compared to the control group (p<0.05). Therefore, we conclude that infection control training is crucial in bringing about positive changes to the health beliefs of dental hygienists, and a structured system is necessary for continuous infection management along with training in order to improve infection control practices.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 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.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.181-185
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• 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.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the oral health beliefs of male high school students to their oral health Practices and behavior of male high school students to promote their oral health beliefs and oral health. The subjects in this study were the boys 1, 2 grade who were selected by convenience sampling from three different high schools located in North Jeolla Province. A self-administered survey was conducted from May 20 to June 20, 2010. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. Regarding oral health beliefs, the most common oral health belief among the students was to consider it necessary to receive dental treatment as early as possible in case of having any dental disease(4.44), and the least dominant oral health belief was to spend a lot of time talking with others about dental treatment(2.73). 2. As a result of analyzing their oral health beliefs according to general characteristics, religion and experiences of visiting dental clinics made statistically significant differences to oral health beliefs(p<0.05). The students who were in the upper grades outdid their counterparts in oral health practices(p<0.01), and those who were religious excelled the others who weren't in that aspect(p<0.001). 3. As for the links between oral health beliefs and oral health practices, the students scored highest in toothbrushing(3.65), and the students whose oral health beliefs were better were statistically significant different from the others whose oral health beliefs were worse in all the toothbrushing, use of oral hygiene supplies, regular dental clinic visit, dietary control and education/interest(p<0.05, p<0.001).

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.190-203
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• 2003

Background: Dental hygienists are at risk of acquiring infections through exposure to infectious agents. This study explores the frequency of exposure to infectious agents and infection control practices among dental hygienists. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional survey to examine the exposure to infectious agents and infection control practices among dental hygienists through questionnaire. Data were obtained from 124 dental hygienists attending educational conferences. A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors that effect infection control practices in relation to age, completion of infection control education, recognition of their own serum hepatitis Ag/Ab status, the number of one day patients, location of clinics, type of clinics, and career years. Result: Of the 124 dental hygienists, 91.7% were exposed to at least one accident such as needle stick injuries during their practices periods. The health screening coverage rate in dental hygienists was 16.5%. The number of one day patients and career years were important in relation to infection control practices among dental hygienists. The adjusted odds ratio estimates for career years were 5.049 times greater(95% Cl 1.238-20.597) for groups with over 4 career years than under 2 career years. That for the number of one day patients were 0.261(95% Cl 0.071-0.955) lower for through 20 up to 30 patients, 0.531(95% Cl 0.102-2.78) lower for through 30 up to 40 patients and 0.498(95% Cl 0.123-2.017) lower for more than 40 patients than under 20 patients. Conclusion: From these results, prevalence of infection control practices among dental hygienists is related to the number of one day patients and career years. Prevention of cross infection and reduction of future transmission should be a priority to dental hygienists for promotion of infection control and further efforts to educate newcomers on infection prevention should be made.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.827-837
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of dental health care among the teachers at local children centers. Methods : The author administered a questionnaire with 105 teachers while undergoing his/her teacher's internship at a Local Center for Children's Welfare in Daegu, from Feb 18th to Feb 20th, 2011. The statistical techniques as frequencies and means, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient and multiple regression with the PASW 18.0 program were used to analyze the data. Results : The knowledge, attitudes, and practice of dental health care was average 19.1 point in knowledge, average 7.8 point in attitudes, average 11.9 point practically high in gender role values. The multiple regression results related each variable to practice of dental health, the practice is significant associated to oral health education, children's dental check-up opportunities, and the higher score attitude of dental health care. Based on the results of this study mentioned so far, the teacher's practices of administering the oral hygiene is deemed to be influenced by the existence of their experiences in the oral hygiene educations, and their attitudes on the subject. Conclusions : t is, therefore, just to provide an education program about dental health care of the children to the teachers on consistent base, in order to assist them to develop an appropriate attitude which would lead to better practices.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.479-492
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the practices of the dental implant maintenance care according to knowledge and attitude toward dental implant in the dental service consumers. Methods: T-test, ANOVA, and cross tabulation were carried out to understand the knowledge and attitude toward the dental implant, the experiences of the treatments, and the practices of their maintenance care depending on the general characteristics and the oral-health education experience. The collected data were analyzed using by SPSS Windows Program 23.0. Results: The actual state of the implant maintenance care was revealed to be high in the use of oral care products with 83.9% and in the professional maintenance care with 86.0%. In terms of the implant-related experiences, the participation and the participation frequency in the professional maintenance care were resulted to be higher especially in those with more cases of surgical procedures and in those with more failure experiences. Examining the practices of management according to knowledge and attitude toward dental implant, the higher in knowledge and attitude led to the higher uses of oral care products. The periodically professional maintenance care was indicated to be received even if being taken high management cost. Conclusions: Effective education methods and programs are necessary to be developed and executed so that information and knowledge can lead the correct practices in the dental service consumers.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to provide the basic data needed to plan the effective teaching design of scaling education and to measure the changes in students' confidence in performing scaling according to the number of scaling practices. Scaling education is presented as a core basic hygiene competency of dental hygienists and evaluated as the practical competency of dental hygienists. This study selected 48 third-year students from the department of dental hygiene at S University in Asan, and analyzed data from completed participant surveys. The degree of "confidence in facing the subject in clinical practice," "confidence in applying hand instrument to the subject," and "confidence in applying ultrasonic instruments to the subject" was assessed on a five-point Likert scale. The difference in confidence was analyzed during five practice sessions. Each response was compared using frequency analysis, chi-square test, and repeated measurement ANOVA. Students who complained of a lack of confidence in the 14.6%, 25.0%, and 12.5%, respectively, in face-to-face practice, hand instruments, and ultrasonic instrument application responses. The more the practice was repeated, the more confident students were in all three categories, and the more statistically significant (p<0.001). As the number of scaling practice sessions increased, students' confidence in performing scaling also improved. In particular, the level of self-confidence was higher after the third practice session when compared to the first session. Therefore, it is necessary to design effective courses for teaching scaling practices so that at least three repetitive practice periods can be provided in clinical dental hygiene practices.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.953-962
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• 2017

Purpose. This study was conducted in order to identify levels of stress and self-esteem related to clinical practices of dental hygiene department students. Methods. Data was collected from a group of 249 students from October to November 2015, in the Yeong-nam region. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics frequency and t-test, logistic regressions by a SPSS WIN 18.0 program. Results. The results indicate that the characteristics of those who appeared to practice managing teaching was higher than that of the stress levels of clinical practice(p=.044). As well. personal relations(p=.013), degree of major satisfaction(p=.001), levels of satisfaction of practice(p=.019) resulted in higher levels of self esteem. The stress levels of clinical practice and high levels of satisfaction of practice were reduced and resulted in a dental hygienic negative correlation(p=.016). Self-esteem levels increased significantly according to personal relations(p=.001) and satisfaction of practice(p=.014). Conclusion. A strategy for development of a method to reduce the stress of clinical practice among individuals and an improvement of self-esteem programs which is necessary for dental hygiene students.