The Future of Dental and Dental Hygiene Care

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

This week in the MHST 601 course I was tasked with finding information on the future of health. My area of expertise is in the dental field, therefore I looked at how the dental world is changing. In my province, Nova Scotia, we are currently celebrating pride week! It is a vibrant celebration of all people in the LGBTQ++ community. I have patients who identify as male, female, genderless, etc. and knowing what pronoun they prefer to use is important in making a lasting and trusting relationship. Macri & Wolfe (2019) shed light on the health issues, including oral health issues, that can amount from discrimination which has historically been an issue in the LGBTQ++ community. Though there has been a limited number of studies on oral health in the transgender community to date, I look forward to learning more and providing more culturally competent care.

The next area of interest for future health is for the dental hygiene profession. Educating the registered dental hygienists (RDH) of the future requires a look at the current curricula. More dental hygienists are exploring alternative practice settings rather than solo dental practices. In addition, they are becoming more integrated in collaborative care. Fried et al (2017) describes the trends of dental hygiene practice for the future and provides recommendations to adapt the curricula. This is an American study, but we have seen similar changes in the role of RDHs in Canada and I believe the information would be useful in reviewing the Canadian dental hygiene curricula.

Lastly, my main area of interest is dental care for children. Fear is often a key player in uncooperative behaviour in the dental office. Some children require adjustments to care to gain cooperation. In the case of restorative dental work, pharmacological intervention is often required. Goettems et al (2019) explored the use of alternatives to pharmacological treatments. These include the usual distraction such as television and audio through headphones. Other areas of interest were hypnosis and virtual reality glasses. Technology has been changing rapidly over the past few years and I found the idea of virtual reality in the dental office to be intriguing. I am interested to read more about distraction techniques like as more research is completed.

References:

Fried, J., Maxey, H., Battani, K., Gurenlian, J., Byrd, T., & Brunick, A. (2017). Preparing the Future Dental Hygiene Workforce: Knowledge, Skills, and Reform. Journal of Dental Education, 81(9s). doi:10.21815/jde.017.032

Goettems, M. L., Costa, F. D., & Costa, V. P. (2019). The Challenge of Child Management During Dental Care: Use of Nonpharmacological Approaches. Academic Pediatrics, 19(5), 495-496. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2019.04.007

Macri, D., & Wolfe, K. (2019). My preferred pronoun is she: Understanding transgender identity and oral health care needs. Can J Dent Hyg, 53(2), 110-117. Retrieved July 18, 2019 from https://files.cdha.ca/profession/journal/2703.pdf