Senior Dental Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Dental Hygienists' Contributions to Comprehensive Patient Care

Purpose: To assess senior dental students' knowledge and attitudes toward dental hygienists' contributions to comprehensive patient care and to compare the responses of students from two dental schools, one with a dental hygiene (DH) program, and one without a DH program.Methods: Senior dental students from one school with DH (n=363) and one without DH (n=111) were requested to complete a 15-item survey assessing knowledge of clinical duties of licensed dental hygienists, attitudes regarding outcomes of collaborating with hygienists, and demographic characteristics. Responses were collated, and frequencies of responses for each item were analyzed by Qualtrics software program. The chi-square test was used to compare responses of the two groups of dental students.Results: The response rate was 27%. More respondents from the school with DH than those from the school without DH significantly agreed to these statements: "collaborating with DH students in school, has given, or would have given me, a better understanding of the value a dental hygienist brings to my future dental practice" (p=0.02) and "having a DH program at a dental school leads to patients receiving more comprehensive preventive care" (p=0.01). The likelihood of employing a dental hygienist was not significantly different between the two groups of students. The perceived high financial cost was the most frequent reason not to employ a hygienist.Conclusion: Collaboration of dental and DH students in entry-level education results in dental students' greater understanding and support of the dental hygienists' contributions to comprehensive patient care.