• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to explore some of the right directions for school dental-health education, by examining nursing students' knowledge on and attitude to the two major oral diseases in our country, dental caries and periodontal disease, as they will take charge of dental-health education and care for children in school dental-health center as sole expert health personnels after graduation. As a result of making an analysis of their knowledge and attitude, the following findings were acquired: (1) The students investigated perceived their oral cavity to tend to be healthy(36.8%) or in moderate situation(36.3%), although they had a subjective symptom for hot or cold food. (2) They thought dental caries is attributed to poor dental hygiene care(90.4%). Among them, 94.1% found toothbrushing effective for the prevention of dental caries, but just 40.2% agreed that toothbrush should be straight. (3) Those who considered fluoride effective for dental caries prevention thought the best way to use fluoride is taking fluoride-containing tap water(2.00). The second best way was fluoride mouth rinse(2.40), followed by the topical application of fluoride(2.70), use of fluoride dentifrice, and intake of fluoride(4.30) in the order named. (4) The regular examination and toothbrushing were mentioned as a way to prevent dental caries, but just toothbrushing was put in action for dental health. So their knowledge and actual attitude weren't the same. (5) They brushed their teeth for oral health(94.3%). Toothbrushing was done after breakfast(71.9%) or before bedtime(65.8%). Just 40.3% performed toothbrushing after lunch. That was implemented twice(35.7%) or three times(37.6%) a day. (6) Out of those who pointed out toothbrushing as a way to prevent periodontal diseases(84.7%), the effect of toothbrushing on the prevention of periodontitis wasn't supported by 7.1% of those who completed the course of study for the teaching profession and by 17.0% of the others who didn't. The two groups weren't of the same opinion. The above-mentioned findings suggest that the dental knowledge of the nursing students wasn't good enough to be properly responsible for school children's dental health care. In particular, there was a gap between knowledge and attitude. To improve children's poor dental health and help their oral cavity stay healthy, there is a need to activate school dental-health center, which is now in model operation, and to make the most of dental hygienists, who are educated to be a dental-health specialist, for more successful dental-health care for school children.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.233-238
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• 2005

The study was intended to investigate elementary schoolers' oral health status according to whether the school have and manage an school oral health clinic or not in order to provide useful information for continuously developing the school oral health clinic 1,163 children in Hwasan elementary school in Hwasung city and 485 children in S elementary school in the same locality were selected as the experimental group and the control group, respectively, and orally examined from May 1st to 30th, 2004. The findings from the oral examination were as follows. 1. DMF rate was higher in the higher grades in both the groups. The rate was lower in the experimental group with 45.1% of the children than in the control group with 65.3% of the children. 2. DMFT rate also were higher as the grades were higher in both the groups. The ratio was lower in the experimental group with 30.4% of the children than in the control group with 44.6% of the children. 3. DMFT index was 1.0 in number in the experimental group and 1.6 in the control group. Index increase from the 1st grade to the sixth grade was also more positive in the experimental group. 4. DT rate was a little higher in the experimental group in the first graders, but comparatively decreased to the grades while increased in the control group. In the sixth graders, the rate was 42.4% in the experimental group and 87.7% in the control group, the former was less than the latter by about 50% point. 5. FT rate was a little higher in the control group for the first graders but increased in the experimental group to the grades. The rate in the sixth graders was higher by more than double in the experimental group. Based on the above findings, the region of the study had better oral health statistics than in other regions. The operation of school oral health clinics that provide dental health care to children at the right time seems to contribute to enhancing their dental health status by preventing against dental diseases and changing their relevant knowledge, attitude and behaviors. In the future, more school oral health clinics should gradually be prepared to push ahead with a sustained, extensive dental health project geared toward school-aged children. To make it happen, dental hygienists who are professional medical personnels should be taken advantage of, and in order to beef up the efficiency of preventive measures and oral health education, the best dental health care services should be offered by harnessing dental hygienists and dentists who work at public dental clinics run by local governments.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.775-785
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to verify factors affecting the use of dental hygiene care products in adults. The study used a nationally representative sample of Koreans (2013 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) aged 19 years over (n=4,839). Dependent variable was frequency of tooth brushing per day, use of dental floss, use of interdental brush and use of mouth rinse. Independent variable was sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, perceived health and oral health conditions. The chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were performed to identify the factors affecting the use of dental hygiene care products. All analyses were performed using PASW Statistics version 18.0. Resulting of chi-square test, the use of oral hygiene care products was statistically significant with gender, age, education level, household income, marital status, dental utilization, dental examination. Resulting of logistic regression, in female, the higher the education level was identified as common factors for variables in use of dental hygiene care products. Dental hygienist among dental professionals should play an important role as contributor to the national oral health promotion that recognizes the impact of each factor by refining dental hygiene care products and reflect personal characteristics and preferences through the oral health educational media and program development.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.329-337
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• 2019

Advances in the dental medical field now provide high quality medical service, and thus, it has become important to identify the role of dental hygienists. However, the professional status of dental hygienists has not been acknowledged, and this has resulted in problems such as dissatisfaction and high turnover rates at dental hospitals. This study was undertaken to identify factors that influence dental hygienist job satisfaction and turnover rates. To achieve this we used a synthetic approach incorporating individual (optimism), job (professionalism), and organizational (perceived organizational support) characteristics. Our results showed that optimism, professionalism, and perceived organizational support were positively related to job satisfaction. Furthermore, job satisfaction was found to be negatively related to turnover intension and to partially mediate the effect between POS and turnover intention. We believe the results of this study could be used by dental hospitals to address dental hygienist dissatisfaction and high turnover rates.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2007

Targeting dental hygienists who work in clinical division and public dental health division, this study was to investigate and analyze their working environment by work division, so that it could make basic material available in the interest of efficiently employing technical manpower specializing in public health and their better work environment in the future. 1. In terms of the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents, it was found that employees in public health were married in higher percentage and had higher age with longer career than those in clinical division, and it was noted that the former group had higher percentage in longer academic career than the latter group. 2. In terms of working days and hours, it was found that dental hygienists employed in public health worked 5 days a week(95.8%), while those in clinical division worked 6 days a week(70.3%). That is, the latter group worked longer days a week than the former group. 3. In terms of annual regular holidays, it was found that dental hygienists in public health division mostly took 11 to 20 days off a year, while those in clinical division mostly took 1 to 3 days off a year. That is, the former group is significant different in annual holidays from the latter group. 4. In terms of pay and allowances, it was found that most of public health group(89.4%) got monthly pay, while most of clinical group(65.4%) got the pay in annual salary. 5. In terms of reorientation experiences, it was found that 63.5% of total respondents didn't have any opportunity of domestic and overseas reorientation. And in terms of financial sponsorship for reorientation, it was noted that 54.0% of total respondents were financially supported for their reorientation by the institution they work for. 6. In terms of in-house welfare environment for married employees, it was found that 85.5% respondents ever faced no discrimination in job opportunities. In terms of the availability of maternity leave, it was noted that 69.2% respondents used the maternity leave, and 74.8% respondents used the maternity leave during 3 months. 7. In terms of quitting job, it was found that 46.8% respondents had ever left their job(public health group: 53.8%, clinical group: 45.8%), while the remaining 53.2% respondents(public health group: 46.2%, clinical group: 54.2%) had never left their job. Here, it is found that the employees in public health accounted for somewhat higher percentage in quitting job than those in clinical division. In terms of the number of leaving job, it was noted that most(50.8%) respondents left their job once, and there were similar distributions in quitting job between these both groups. In terms of the reason for quitting job, it was found that 29.2% respondents left their job due to desire for better pay(allowance) and working conditions.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to improve the oral health after understanding the usage status of oral health items and to conduct active guidance for prohibition of smoking. The survey of 326 visitors for continuous oral health management in the dentist from April 2nd 2007 to May $20^{th}$ is accomplished. The data is handled from the SPSS 12.0 statistics program and we can get the results like below. 1. The number of people answering the usage of the smooth toothbrush is 64.5% which is higher in smoking peoples than in non-smoking ones (p < 0.001). Non-smoking people 61.4% answering '3 minutes more' per brushing their teeth is higher than smoking respondents. 2. The more used device is the interdental brush by non-smoking people 36.7% than smoking ones and the answer. 3. The percentage answering 'recommendation in the dentist' in the question about the motive using the oral health devices are nearly same in 69.6 % and 67.5% by non-smoking and smoking persons. The most reason not using these devices is 'don't know how to use this' and the number of smoking guys is 38.7% which is higher than that of non-smoking ones(p < 0.05). 4. The percentage of answering 'regular visiting the dentist', the method for oral health management is 28.3% in smoking parts and 35.3% in non-smoking ones which is slightly higher. From this study, the usage and the recognition of oral hygiene devices of the patient with smoking is a little bit lower than those of non-smoking patients and small difference is shown. So public relations of the effects and the necessity of the oral hygiene devices to all people have to be performed and the education and the activity prohibiting smoking are expanded by the dental hygienist based on the understanding of oral health when the patients are smoking or not.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.349-356
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• 2018

The demand for medical care and welfare for patients with disabilities is expanding, and healthcare professionals are also increasingly interested in the need for medical care for patients with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the competency of disabled patients' management and the education experience of dental hygiene students, who are the main players of oral health care for disabled patients. A total of 196 students in the dental hygiene department and 3rd and 4th grade students were surveyed using questionnaires. As a result, most of the students had a positive awareness of disabled patients; 84.7% answered with the need to train dental hygienists in specializing in handicapped patients, 76.5% were willing to attend seminars related to disabled patients after graduation, and 71.4% of the students provided dental treatment for patients with disabilities in curriculum and comparative curriculum. The students who provided treatment for disabled patients showed that their competence in most areas of knowledge of disabled patients, oral health education, and oral disease prevention was highly evaluated as significant. The competence of respondents who answered that the theoretical education was sufficient was significantly higher. Based on this, institutional support for the education of dentistry for disabled patients is needed, and sufficient theoretical education and practical training should be offered to foster personnel capable of contributing to the improvement in the oral health of patients with disabilities. In addition, in-depth discussions on the training of dental hygienists specialized in handicapped patients should be conducted.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.340-348
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions, precedent tasks, positive and negative effects, and expandable professional tasks regarding the inclusion of dental hygienists (DHs) in the category of medical personnel. This study involved a survey of 259 DHs and 128 dentists. The findings were as follows: 94.2% of DHs and 46.9% of dentists were aware of inclusion in the category of medical personnel; 95.0% of DHs and 64.1% of dentists supported the idea; and 84.9% of DHs and 51.6% of dentists recognized its legitimacy. As for precedent tasks for inclusion in the category of medical personnel, both DHs and dentists scored high points in professional consciousness in the area of occupation. Both DHs and dentists scored the highest points in the quality management of DH education and the lowest points in the unification of school systems in the area of institution. In the area of society, DHs scored high points in the persuasion of the central government, whereas dentists scored high points in collaboration among concerned organizations. Regarding the positive effects of inclusion in the category of medical personnel, both DHs and dentists scored the highest points in the expanded perception of DHs. As for its negative effects, DHs scored high points in the aggravation of salary increase, whereas dentists scored high points in the aggravation of salary increase. Regarding expandable professional tasks after the inclusion of DHs in the category of medical personnel, the management of independent periodontal care programs recorded the highest percentage both in DHs and dentists. These findings highlight the need for adequate discussions about the meanings of the inclusion of DHs in the category of medical personnel and will hopefully contribute to the rational adjustment and legalization of DHs' works with regard to their inclusion in the category of medical personnel.