State Licensing Board Requirements for Entry into the Dental Hygiene Profession.

The purpose of this study was to identify current requirements for initial licensure and entry into the dental hygiene profession across state dental and dental hygiene licensing boards in the United States. A non-experimental study design was used to study dental and dental hygiene board licensing requirements in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Each regulatory board website was searched for requirements for entry-level dental hygiene licensure.

Exploring the Integration of the Dental Hygiene Diagnosis in Entry-Level Dental Hygiene Curricula.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how dental hygiene educational programs currently incorporate dental hygiene diagnosis (DHDx) into entry-level, dental hygiene curriculum. An exploratory, quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional study was designed to assess the extent to which DHDx is integrated into entry-level dental hygiene curriculum. A 30-item survey was designed and content validity established using a subset of dental hygiene faculty and researchers as well as participants from the American Dental Hygienists' Association.

Evaluation of resources for an interactive infection control instructional program.

Purpose: To evaluate educational resources used in developing and implementing an interactive infection control instructional program for first year (n=26) and second year (n=26) dental hygiene students in a baccalaureate program.

Methods: An educator's toolkit was used to develop online and interactive learning modalities for teaching infection control content. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate responses on a post instruction opinion survey on a 5-point Likert-type scale.

A survey of United States dental hygienists' knowledge, attitudes, and practices with infection control guidelines.

Purpose: To assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of U.S. dental hygienists with infection control guidelines (ICG).

E-learning vs. classroom instruction in infection control in a dental hygiene program.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate e-learning versus classroom instruction in infection control by comparing outcomes of multiple-choice examination scores and clinical competency-based examinations (CBE) between two groups of first-year dental hygiene students (fall 2008 e-learning: n=26; fall 2009 classroom instruction: n=26). Contents of both instructional units were comparable and were developed by the Organization for Safety, Asepsis, and Prevention. All students in each group were required to complete infection control instruction as part of the preclinical curriculum (didactic and clinical) and were tested on the material using the multiple-choice examination and clinical CBE.

Dental hygiene faculty calibration in the evaluation of calculus detection.

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the impact of faculty calibration training on intra- and interrater reliability regarding calculus detection. After IRB approval, twelve dental hygiene faculty members were recruited from a pool of twenty-two for voluntary participation and randomized into two groups. All subjects provided two pre- and two posttest scorings of calculus deposits on each of three typodonts by recording yes or no indicating if they detected calculus.