A Collaborative Education Program in Dental Assisting, Dental Hygiene, and Postgraduate General Dentistry

Author： Gore Constance Solovan-Gleason Donna Schobert Krista Porter Thomas Johnson Shannon

Publisher： American Dental Hygienists' Association

ISSN： 1553-0205

Source： Journal of Dental Hygiene, Vol.80, Iss.1, 2006-0, pp. : 15-15

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Abstract

Traditionally, the education of dental assistants, dental hygienists, and general dentistry residents takes place in separate clinic areas and in separate curriculums with limited or no interaction among the disciplines. In contrast, dental assistants, dental hygienists, and dentists are expected to practice in a cohesive and efficient manner upon graduation. Recognizing this as a problem, a facility was designed and built to integrate the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs with the general dentistry residency program for didactic and clinical education. The students are educated in the team concept of providing patient care. The clinic facility is modeled on a private practice office with a common reception area; the dental hygiene treatment area is immediately adjacent to the dental resident operatories. Dental assisting students assist in the dental hygiene and resident operatories. Each dental hygiene student, dental assisting student, and dental resident is grouped into a treatment team. Patient treatment is planned and coordinated by the team with faculty supervision. Responsibilities of dental hygiene students include the patient's initial periodontal therapy, oral hygiene instruction, post-surgical management, and post-care maintenance. Dental assisting students provide chairside assisting for dental hygiene students and residents, schedule appointments, and monitor patients' progress through treatment. Dental residents are team leaders and are responsible for providing patient treatment and monitoring the dental hygiene and dental assisting students. Meetings provide the members and the supervising faculty the opportunity to review each patient's progress. All team members participate in case presentation seminars. This collaborative program is a work in progress to determine the educational value of having dental hygiene, dental assisting, and general dentistry residents train together in preparation for the team concept of providing care. Evaluation of the program will be done through conventional assessment processes to include review of national and clinical board exam scores to compare student scores to those of other dental hygiene and dental assisting schools, and the review of graduate student and employer surveys to determine if students are judged better prepared to enter the workforce.