The dental hygiene profession has long been one of the most important and rewarding careers in the dental field. As our society has become more aware of the importance of preventive measures in dental care, the dental hygiene profession has taken a center stage in dentistry. The residual effect of elevated awareness of preventive care is the increase in liability of practicing dental hygienists. Due to the fact that majority of hygienist works in private practices, many do not have the proper education regarding liability issues of being a health professional and less likely to have their own risk assessments to mitigate any potential career ending lawsuits.
The first dental hygiene program started in 1913 with graduates serving public schools. During the time that dental hygiene was born as a profession, hygienists were allowed to perform routine scaling, polishing teeth, and prophylaxis treatment. Though during this time, dental hygienists were only considered as dental nurses
…show more content…
Often times, dentists only hire hygienists for a few days out of the week, therefore resulting in most hygienists working for more than one dentist, often in different locations. Since it is required for dentists who own a private practice to always carry insurance, hygienists tend to rely on this insurance to cover their liabilities. Although it may be sufficient more often than not, there are still areas that will require an individual's own insurance coverage in order to have proper protection. There are often limits to insurance on an insurance policy, if that limit is reached on a malpractice lawsuit, there won’t be any funds left to cover the hygienist. If the hygienist is the sole name on a lawsuit, the employer's insurance will not cover it. One should consider this to be an additional liability that a dental hygienist must
To become a dental hygienist, one must attend a college or university that has a dental hygiene program. “Your coursework will include classes such as the
At CADH, I was taught how to act upon the eight competencies in different aspects for the public. As a clinician I was taught how to apply the dental hygiene process of care; assessing signs and symptoms, as well as risks factors related to oral disease, and then make a diagnosis, plan, implement, and evaluate the treatment within the dental hygiene scope of practice. One of many important roles of being a dental hygienist is being part of a dental care team where I we work in collaboration with a dentist or a dental specialist. I have been able to extensively develop my management skills to understand the administrative setting of the school, as well as the authority responsibilities and roles of my faculty and other professionals involved. As an administrator, I am responsible to manage my clients’ periodontal status, by identifying presence of disease, setting care priorities, eliminating risk factors, and deciding whether the client is already in the maintenance state or needs further special treatment. As ...
Medical malpractice has become a controversial social issue. From a doctor’s standpoint, decisions and preventative actions can alter the medical malpractice lawsuits filed against them. In order to protect their career and professional life medical malpractice insurance is available. Medical professional liability insurance, sometimes known as medical malpractice insurance, is one type of professional liability insurance. “Professional liability refers to liability that arises from a failure to use due care and the standard of care expected from a person in a particular profession, in this case a doctor, dentist, nurse, hospital or other health-related organization” (Brandenburg, 2014).
Dentistry as a profession over the years has evolved rapidly in light of new scientific evidence. Rapidly evolving science and technology have implemented changes within dentistry as evidenced by new standards and guidelines being produced by nationally recognised associations including National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) in Scotland, in provision of new scientific evidence. The latest standards and guidelines produced, endorse everyday clinical practice through evidence based dentistry (REF). All dental professionals as part of continued professional development are expected to keep to date on relevant guidelines and knowledge related to their practice (REF). This is supported by the General Dental Council who state all clinicians must maintain their professional knowledge and competence throughout their working career (REF).
Catching small signs and symptoms could potentially save a patient’s life. One should take it upon their own selves as a duty to notice the current condition of the patient. Dental hygienists are the ones who spend the most time with the patient, and they see the patient on a regular basis. It can only be in the patient’s
CASE 1 In this case, there are several ethical and legal issues involved. Societal trust: Patients trust in us, as dental professionals, and this trust is based on our actions and behaviors. Patient trusted in dentist treatment plan. Malpractice and negligence:
The role of a dental hygienist in education includes clinical and classroom instructors according to the ADHA model. The dental hygiene educator teaches dental hygiene students at community colleges and universities. They instruct students on how to properly remove calculus, stain, and plaque as well as exposing and processing radiographs in the clinical environment. In a classroom environment, the educator will teach the students about the dental hygiene process of care, evidence-based decision making, ethics, and numerous other courses and curriculum that is required for the students to obtain their licensure. Dental hygiene fits into this path as an educator because you can use a dental hygiene degree to become a clinical instructor or classroom instructor.
They do many things a dentist normally would do and can work for the most part without the help of a dentist. “Dental hygienist examine the teeth structure, clean, and polish their patients’ teeth… Dental hygienist also take, process and interpret x-rays, take impressions and apply cavity-preventive agents to the patient’s teeth”(Institution). These responsibilities are just some of the tasks dental hygienist do. Hygienist are the ones who clean your teeth, try to diagnose any problems, and access the head and neck regions to make sure nothing is wrong. “Dental hygienists provide a variety of preventive services, including scaling, polishing teeth, and teaching patients how to have good oral health (Geshelin).” Dental hygienist do all the “dirty” work in the dental industry, the dentist just comes in after the dental hygienist has done all the work and checks the patient’s teeth so the dentist knows nothing is wrong or if there is a problem how they are going to fix it. They are the answer to dental care in rural areas; they cost less meaning rural areas can afford dental hygienists. Dental hygienists do all the common work in dentist offices, with that being said the statistics that dental hygienist will continue to be in high demand is true. In this article it states some ethical problems dental Hygienist face, “ Hygienist schedule their own appointment and help make
Keeping up with teeth cleaning routine and listening to my hygienist on how to maintain a healthy oral hygiene is the best thing I did for myself. Without my hygienist, I wouldn’t be able to be confident to smile and learn correctly how to maintain the health of my teeth. In the end of all my dental experiences, I decided to become a dental hygienist. I want to be a member of American Dental Hygienists Association helping people improve and learn to maintain their oral health. It’s interesting to me that one’s mouth can either impress or disappoint someone’s depiction of an individual.
Healthcare is a necessity to sustain society. Dentistry is an area of healthcare that I feel extremely passionate about because access to proper dental care is limited, especially in the underserved communities. As an African American, I want to become a dentist and healthcare provider in the hopes of helping patients and adding to the diversification of the field. With a growing minority population in the United States, it has become apparent that there is a shortage of black dentists. This is problematic because underrepresented minorities are in great need of access to culturally connected dentists who understand their clinical needs as much as their lives and their challenges. I believe that when the profession includes a range of ethnicities
It's important for any high school student to have an idea or plan of what they want to pursue in the near future. Most students want to go into the medical field, become a professional athlete, a lawyer, etc. Many talk about becoming a dentist, but not a dental assistant. Simply because they feel like it's not that big of a title of being a dental assistant as compared to a dentist. Little do they know dental assistants play a big role as well in the office. A dental assistant does many tasks and duties that help benefit the dentist and also the patients.
According to the book, “Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist”, a dental hygienist is a dental health specialist whose primary concern is the maintenance of oral health and the prevention of oral disease. A career as a dental hygienist provides a wide range of challenges where in the dentist office, the dental hygienist and dentist work together to meet the oral health needs of their patients. There are many things that dental hygienists do that you may not realize when you think you are just going in to get your teeth cleaned.
Noel Brandon published an article about dental facilities. They should be disinfected before to treatment to avoid cross contamination with patients and the staff themselves. He also discusses awareness and provides prevention in the dental services since questions flashed upon dental regulations and hygiene at a dental facility in Italy. However, 83 year old lady died after she contacted an illness. Investigations were done do find the cause of the death, as well as, samples of water from the dental facility were tested to determine that it could be linked to her last trip to the dentist.
Yes, dental hygienists face several challenges in an everyday scenario, but they also face the challenge of benefiting others outside of their job and to the ones who are not as fortunate as others. It is imperative that dental hygienists and other health professions come together to expand their knowledge and practices to help the poor. The future of dental hygiene is expected to come from the interaction within the communities, and in order to do so, hygienists need to find the drive and put in the extra effort to encourage others to focus more on their health in order to stay healthy. If the dental field works to help others, their biggest challenge will soon become their
Introduction: In Canada, general dental health is not part Canada’s national system of health insurance (Medicare) (1) except for some dental surgical procedures that are performed at hospitals. Since Oral health does not come under the Health Act about ninety-five percent of the oral health care services are offered on a fee-for-service basis. Oral health care is under provincial or territorial jurisdiction like other health care services and publically financed dental care programs provide the remaining five percent of oral health care services (2). Thus, majority of Canadians receive oral health via privately owned dental clinics. Privately owned dental care gives these services providers control over dental service charges, types of available treatment for the patients and number of follow-up appointment for treatments or routine care. Service users pay for the dental expenses from their own pockets or utilize insurance coverage (1).