Dental hygienists are registered and certified health professionals who specialize in preventing oral health problems and diseases. They work with individual clients or communities to prevent tooth, gum and mouth diseases and injuries that can affect overall health.
Dental hygiene services are provided to individuals across the age spectrum. Dental hygienists work with patients ranging from parents in pre-natal classes to the elderly in long-term care centres. A work day could involve assessment, planning, implementing and evaluating oral health data and include:
teaching an elementary class about oral health care
counseling a family about oral health
providing fluoride treatments to patients during a dental visit
administering local anaesthetic for dental hygiene or dental treatment
teaching long-term care staff about mouthcare for their clients
working with nurses to prevent sports and playground injuries
screening seniors for signs of oral cancer
performing head, neck and oral examinations
applying pit and fissure sealants to teeth
reviewing literature and conducting research
scaling and rootplaning, and so on
The dental hygiene profession focuses on preventive health care. As a result, many dental hygienists deliver health promotion programs in their community to parent and special needs groups, schools, day cares and long-term seniors' care facilities. Among the programs provided are:
Tobacco Cessation
Sports/Mouthguard Clinics
Well Baby Seminars
Showing posts with label dental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dental. Show all posts
Monday, November 5, 2007
An end to dental drilling?
The phrase "no pain, no gain" may someday not apply to the dentist's office, according to a team developing a drill-free cavity treatment.
The technique may be available to dentists and their relieved patients in the future, say University of Missouri-Columbia inventors.
They're working on a non-thermal plasma brush that uses a low-temperature chemical reaction to disinfect and prepare cavities for filling.
In typical (and often painful) cavity repair, the dentist drills away the affected area and then makes a filling to restore the tooth's shape. The vibration and noise can be very uncomfortable for many patients.
May replace drilling
"Successful development of the plasma brush could replace the painful and destructive drilling currently practiced in dentistry," Hao Li, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a prepared statement.
The brush will operate without the heat and vibrations that cause the pain and discomfort associated with the current procedure. The researchers say it will also be silent.
"Plasma treatment would be a painless, nondestructive and tissue-saving way to care for and treat cavities because it relies on chemical reactions instead of heat or mechanical interactions," Qingsong Yu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a prepared statement. "The chemical bonding between teeth and fillings that the plasma treatment would create would be much stronger than dentists currently get with drills or laser techniques," Yu added.
Yu and Yixiang Duan, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, have filed two US patent applications for the brush.
The researchers also promise that the brush will alter the tooth's surface, creating a stronger bond with the filling.
The technique may be available to dentists and their relieved patients in the future, say University of Missouri-Columbia inventors.
They're working on a non-thermal plasma brush that uses a low-temperature chemical reaction to disinfect and prepare cavities for filling.
In typical (and often painful) cavity repair, the dentist drills away the affected area and then makes a filling to restore the tooth's shape. The vibration and noise can be very uncomfortable for many patients.
May replace drilling
"Successful development of the plasma brush could replace the painful and destructive drilling currently practiced in dentistry," Hao Li, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a prepared statement.
The brush will operate without the heat and vibrations that cause the pain and discomfort associated with the current procedure. The researchers say it will also be silent.
"Plasma treatment would be a painless, nondestructive and tissue-saving way to care for and treat cavities because it relies on chemical reactions instead of heat or mechanical interactions," Qingsong Yu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a prepared statement. "The chemical bonding between teeth and fillings that the plasma treatment would create would be much stronger than dentists currently get with drills or laser techniques," Yu added.
Yu and Yixiang Duan, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, have filed two US patent applications for the brush.
The researchers also promise that the brush will alter the tooth's surface, creating a stronger bond with the filling.
dental care
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers.
More typically, a lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment.
"This is an uncomfortable read for all of us, and poses serious questions to politicians from patients," said Sharon Grant of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.
Overall, six percent of patients had resorted to self-treatment, according to the survey of 5 000 patients in England, which found that one in five had decided against dental work because of the cost.
One researcher involved in compiling the study -- carried out by members of England's Patient and Public Involvement Forums – came across three people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.
Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers.
More typically, a lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment.
"This is an uncomfortable read for all of us, and poses serious questions to politicians from patients," said Sharon Grant of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.
Overall, six percent of patients had resorted to self-treatment, according to the survey of 5 000 patients in England, which found that one in five had decided against dental work because of the cost.
One researcher involved in compiling the study -- carried out by members of England's Patient and Public Involvement Forums – came across three people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.
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