OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the awareness of the students currently attending dental colleges/schools in Seoul regarding the scope of work done by a dental hygienist (DH) and a chair-side dental assistant (DA).METHODS: A direct questionnaire survey was conducted among 950 students who currently attend dental colleges/schools in Seoul. We were able to use a total of 458 samples for final analysis after excluding inappropriate ones. The contents of this structuralized survey included the obligation of proper name badge use for dental health care personnel, the legal work scopes of a DH and a DA in accordance with the revised execution of the ‘Legal Acts on Medical Technicians’, and the inclusion/exclusion of such contents from dental colleges/schools curricula. The results were statistically analyzed via the IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 software.RESULTS: Many subjects were aware of the difference in scope of work performed by a DH and a DA (P < 0.001), but not their legal obligation to wear appropriate name badges in accordance with the ‘Proposal for the Establishment of the Name Badge Standards for Healthcare Practitioners'. The subjects generally showed higher comprehension of the scope of work performed by a DH (74.3%) than that performed by a DA (57.7%). Without the presence of any corresponding curriculum, accurate responses tended to increase with the students' seniority. Most students (94.4%) agreed with the need to include a class that teaches the scope of work performed by a DH and a DA in their school curricula.CONCLUSIONS: We have found that education regarding ‘Name Badge Standards for Healthcare Practitioners’ and classification of a dental assistant's scope of work is lacking in the existing curriculum. Therefore, it is necessary to establish additional curriculum.
Classification ; Comprehension ; Curriculum ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dental Assistants ; Dental Hygienists ; Education ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Seoul ; Students, Dental

This study's aim was to investigate their opinions to improve the educational system for dental hygienists on the basis of their duties as dental hygienists. The qualitative study was conducted among 19 dental hygienists at Daejeon, Korea from July to August 2016. Two researchers followed each subject for working hours in a day and recorded all the tasks and time to take for each task. After one day, the researchers met each subject and conducted face-to-face interviews to investigate the opinions about the dental hygiene curriculum and national board examination. The main duties recognized by more than half of the subjects were oral disease prevention including scaling and dental treatment assistance. The subjects' minority opinion about the main duties included radiography, impression taking, dental implant surgery assistance, orthodontic treatment, patient counseling, dental management and staff management, and oral health education. The most important tasks perceived by the subjects were prosthetic and implant impressions, scaling and implant surgery assistance. The subjects' minority opinion about the most important duties included patient counseling and making temporary crowns. The most difficult tasks answered by the subjects were prosthetic and implant impressions and dental implant surgery assistance. The subjects' minority opinion about it included patient counseling, scaling, and making temporary crowns. They mentioned that their curriculum in college was different from the actual work and the national board examination was not reflective of their real duties. We found out Korean dental hygienists had a lot of roles as dental assistants, dental business managers, and so on. We suggest that the law, curriculum and national board examination for dental hygienists should be revised to be able to reflect the reality of the clinical field.
Commerce ; Counseling ; Crowns ; Curriculum ; Dental Assistants ; Dental Hygienists* ; Dental Implants ; Education* ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Licensure ; Oral Health ; Oral Hygiene* ; Radiography

OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this investigation is to find out a method to evaluate dental manpower resources.

METHODSWe selected population, GDP, number of dentist and number of different oral health professionals from certain internet stations, published books and journals from 1996 to 2000 as our investigating data.

RESULTSData was collected from 100 countries. Our investigation found that the design of dental manpower index to evaluate dental manpower resources was effective and convenient.

CONCLUSIONDental manpower index is a good method to evaluate dental manpower resources.

Dental Assistants ; statistics & numerical data ; Dental Hygienists ; statistics & numerical data ; Dentistry ; manpower ; Dentists ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans

Dental practice can produce and spread some infetious diseases from patients to dentist, dental assistant, and dental labors. One possible method for preventing these cross-contamination is to immerse dental impression in chemical disinfectants. So far many investigators studied on the dimensional changes of dental impressions and on the surface qualities of stone casts made from impression following immersion in disinfectants. This study was proposed to evaluate some popular impression/disinfectant combination from the point of dimensional stability. Impression was taken from dental arch-shaped metal model. Irreversible hydrocolloid and 3 elastomers(polyvinyl siloxane, polysulfide, polyether) were immersed in 3 disinfectants (2% glutaraldehyde, 1% povidone-iodine, 0.5% sodium hypochlorite) for 10 minutes and measured both cross-arch and anterior-posterior distance under stereo microscope to evaluate dimensional change. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Dimensional changes of irreversible hydrocolloid impression was statistically different in crossarch and anterior-posterior distance when immersed in 2% glutaraldehyde solution and in anterior-posterior distance when immersed in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution from control group(p<0.05). 2. Dimensional changes of polyvinyl siloxane and polysulfide impression were not statistically different from control group (p>0.05). 3. Dimensional changes of polyether impression was statistically different in cross-arch distance when immersed in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution and in anterior-posterior distance when immersed in 1% povidone-iodine solution from control group (p<0.05). 4. In all cases, dimensional changes were less than 0.1% from the original dimension and concluded clinically acceptable
Colloids ; Dental Assistants ; Dentists ; Disinfectants ; Disinfection* ; Glutaral ; Humans ; Immersion* ; Polyvinyls ; Povidone-Iodine ; Research Personnel ; Siloxanes ; Sodium ; Sodium Hypochlorite

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and Influence factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among dental nurses in tertiary stomatology hospitals. Methods: From June to July 2020, 1321 dental nurses from 18 tertiary stomatology hospitals in 18 provinces of China were enrolled as research subjects through a phased sampling method. The cross-sectional study was performed with validated instruments including the basic information questionnaire, Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, Nurse-Physician Collaboration Scale, and Chinese Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, so as to get the information about the social demography information, nursing-physician cooperation, work stress and the incidence of WMSDs. The influenang factors of WMSDs was analyzed. Results: The past prevalence, annual prevalence, and weekly prevalence of WMSDs were 80.8% (1067/1321) , 68.7% and 43.7% (575/1321) . 58.4% (771/1321) of nurses had WMSDs in three or more body parts. Neck (51.4%) , waist (42.2%) and shoulder (41.6%) were the top three body regions in the past year. The absenteeism rate due to musculoskeletal disorders ranged from 3.5% to 9.0%, waist (8.9%) and neck (8.0%) were the top two body regions. Working more than 40 hours per week (OR=1.74, P<0.001) and effect/reward>1 (OR=1.50, P=0.002) were risk factors of WMSDs (OR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.32~2.30; OR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.17~1.92, P<0.05) , while regular physical exercise every week (≥30 min per times) was the protective factor (OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.56~0.97, P=0.030) . Conclusion: The prevalence rate of WMSDs of dental nurses in China was high, and most of the nurses suffered with many body parts. Thus, we should reduce controllable occupational stresso, ensuring adequate rest and strengthening physical exercise to reduce the incidence of WMSDs.
Humans ; Prevalence ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Occupational Diseases/epidemiology* ; Dental Assistants ; Musculoskeletal Diseases/epidemiology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study was performed in the Dental School of Prince of Songkla University to ascertain noise exposure of dentists, dental assistants, and laboratory technicians. A noise spectral analysis was taken to illustrate the spectra of dental devices. METHODS: A noise evaluation was performed to measure the noise level at dental clinics and one dental laboratory from May to December 2010. Noise spectral data of dental devices were taken during dental practices at the dental services clinic and at the dental laboratory. A noise dosimeter was set following the Occupational Safety and Health Administration criteria and then attached to the subjects' collar to record personal noise dose exposure during working periods. RESULTS: The peaks of the noise spectrum of dental instruments were at 1,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hz which depended on the type of instrument. The differences in working areas and job positions had an influence on the level of noise exposure (p < 0.01). Noise measurement in the personal hearing zone found that the laboratory technicians were exposed to the highest impulsive noise levels (137.1 dBC). The dentists and dental assistants who worked at a pedodontic clinic had the highest percent noise dose (4.60 +/- 3.59%). In the working areas, the 8-hour time-weighted average of noise levels ranged between 49.7-58.1 dBA while the noisiest working area was the dental laboratory. CONCLUSION: Dental personnel are exposed to noise intensities lower than occupational exposure limits. Therefore, these dental personnel may not experience a noise-induced hearing loss.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dental Assistants ; Dental Clinics ; Dental Instruments ; Dentists ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced ; Humans ; Laboratories, Dental ; Laboratory Personnel ; Noise ; Occupational Exposure ; Schools, Dental ; United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration