• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.37-54
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this thesis is to address the imbalance between supply and demand of dental lab technicians and to propose its solutions by analyzing the improvement of employment rate of graduates of dental technology schools in Daegu area and the supply and demand of the technician workforce. Preliminary and full-scale surveys were performed from Aug. 10 to Oct. 10 in 2008 on 150 junior students of dental technology schools who finished their on-the-job-training and 150 dental technicians who were working for dental laboratory in Daegu by self-assessment questionnaire. Followings are the findings of this study. First, regarding the gender of the dental technicians, 32.7% of respondents were female 67.3% were male. Concerning age, respondents younger than 29 years-old occupied the highest percentage(39.3%). With respect to the lab technology school they graduated, DaeguHealthCollege took the largest proportion of 87.3%. With regard to interpersonal relationship at the school, 58.0% of respondents felt their relationship 'smooth'. Second, about the motive of choosing to be a lab technician, the biggest proportion of the respondents(34.7%) replied that 'because it is professional'. Regarding the degree of satisfaction about the profession, 'so-so' was the answer with the biggest percentage(51.3%) followed by 'satisfied'(32.0%) and 'unsatisfied'(16.7%). It showed that respondents were generally satisfied with their major. Third, regarding relevance of on-the-job-training with 'preparation for the employment', highest percentage of both students and lab technicians(50.0%) replied 'so-so'. With respect to 'necessity of practical education', highest percentage of the students and lab technicians replied 'relating didactic education in college to the real world' with 52.7% and 40.7% respectively. With regard to 'the aim of on-the-sport-training', 'practical training of didactic education' was chosen by 54.0% and 47.3% respectively. Fourth, with regard to the 'types of college education advantageous for the employment', both students and lab technicians groups chose 'practical training' with the highest percentage. Concerning 'helpfulness of clinical training on employment', students answered 'so-so' and 'helpful' by 50.0% and 42.7% respectively and dental technicians replied similarly by 50.0% and 46.0% respectively. Fifth, with regard to the influence of financial factors on the supply and demand of dental technician(question #1), 68.0% of respondents agreed that 'salary plays key role in the supply and demand of the work force'. Concerning the question about working condition, respondents requested better working environment. With reference to interpersonal relationship at the laboratory, respondents replied that interpersonal relationship affects the duration of the employment it was found out that there were many conflicts with colleagues or dental office. Sixth, regarding the satisfaction about their profession according to the characteristics of the respondents more respondents were 'satisfied'(10.30 points) with their profession and 'unsatisfied' were 9.47 points and the difference was statistically significant(p<0.05). According to the findings of this study, practical education on campus and on-the-job-training are as important as didactic education at class due to the characteristics of dental technology major. It was found that more practical training is related to higher employment rate. Therefore, efficiency of on-the-job-training by college education should be increased raise employment rate of the graduates and reduce the unemployment. Up-to-date information needs to be promptly delivered and future vision should be presented to the students to raise their satisfaction about the profession. In addition, to reduce dental technician's frequent change of their workplace after facing with the reality of the profession after graduation, related organizations should make an effort to present better future than now.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2009

This survey study was conducted on dental technician school students in April 2008 to investigate the effects of smoking on oral health. 110 male and 39 female students were surveyed and cross analysis was performed to examine the relationship between oral health status and smoking-related and oral health maintenance characteristics of smoking and non-smoking group. T-test and one-way ANAVA was used to analyze the average difference verification of two independent samples(smoking group and non-smoking group) and followings are the results. In general characteristics, 74 male students(74.7%) and 25 female(25.3%) students smoked and the percentage of male students were higher in smoking group. Regarding class grade, 2nd-year students(37 students, 37.4%) and 1st-year students(18 students, 36.0%) took the highest percentage of smoking and non-smoking group, respectively. Concerning the experience of drinking, smoking group consumed more alcoholic beverages(94 students, 94.9%) With respect to the frequency of between-meal consumption, respondents who eat between-meal once or twice smoked more. Respecting preferences of sweet food, respondents who enjoyed sweet food smoked more. Concerning smoking characteristics, many of smoking group had been smoked fo a long time(two to five years) and it was worrisome. About the amounts of smoking, 50 respondents(52.6%) of smoking group smoked 20 cigarettes a day with the highest proportion. With regard to the awareness of harmfulness, 70 respondents(70.7%) considered smoking as very harmful and showed that smoking group were aware of its harmfulness but it was habitualized. Respecting smokers in family members, father was more common as smokers(58 respondents, 58.6%) in family and showed that the influence of father. Main reasons of poor periodontal health were alchoholic consumption, smoking, and oral parafunctional habit(57 respondents, 56.7%) in smoking group and neglect of oral hygiene(21 respondents, 42.0%) in non-smoking group. With regard to the scaling, 80 respondents of smoking group(80.8%) didn't received scaling and showed that more oral health education was required. Regarding the periodontal status, non-smoking group was $1.26{\pm}0.44$, respondents who received scaling was $1.43{\pm}0.50$, respondents who regularly floss was $1.50{\pm}0.52$, respondents who brush more than three times a day was $1.38{\pm}0.49$ and had better periodontal health. Bleeding during tooth brushing was more frequent in smoking group ($1.51{\pm}0.70$). Regarding mouth order, non-smoking group was $2.34{\pm}0.62$, after scaling was $2.02{\pm}0.76$, patients who regularly floss was $1.50{\pm}0.52$, patients who brush more than three times a day was $1.81{\pm}0.87$. Concerning the experience of dental caries treatment, smoking group was $1.20{\pm}0.40$, patients who do not floss was $1.30{\pm}0.46$, patients who brush once a day was $1.29{\pm}0.45$. With regard to dental prosthesis, non-smoking group was $3.78{\pm}1.62$, patients who received scaling was $1.43{\pm}0.50$, patients who regularly floss was $1.40{\pm}0.51$, patients who brush more than three times a day was $1.24{\pm}0.43$. From these results, oral health education and smoking has correlation and more oral health education needs to be carried out to educate students with non-health related majors about harmfulness of smoking on oral health. Also more study are required.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.177-198
• /
• 2006

This study purposed to offer basic data for safety education of the dental laboratory technology after the investigation of how much the students in the dept. of dental laboratory technology are aware of the danger of each instrument, equipment or laboratory procedure that they use during laboratory and how much they demand safety education for this. The objects for this study were 423 students who were in the dept. of dental laboratory technology. In this regard, four colleges which have the dept. of dental laboratory technology were randomly selected to do a questionnaire survey. SPSS 12.0 was used to analyze the collected data. The results were as follows: As for satisfaction with their major, the respondents answered Satisfied (59.1%), Average (35.5%) and Dissatisfied (5.4%). In terms of the production process of a partial denture, they considered casting, polishing the casting body, polishing denture and burn out were most dangerous in order. As for the production process of a full denture, what they regarded as the most dangerous in order was polishing denture, deflasking and wax wash. Regarding the laboratory procedures of porcelain material, casting, trimming casting body, polishing porcelain material and burn out were the most dangerous procedures that they perceived. With regard to materials for use, alcohol, polishing, metal and wire were the most dangerous ones they thought. As for the handling characteristics of each material, small towns showed a higher demand for safety of the handling characteristics of alcohol. In terms of school year and sex, juniors and girls had higher scores in the demand for safety of the handling characteristics of acid. Regarding the handling characteristics of each equipment and instrument, all of small towns, juniors and girls showed the highest demand for safety of the handling characteristics of alcohol lamps. With regard to scores in the demand for safety of other characteristics, all of small towns, juniors and girls had the highest demand for safety of emergency treatment. Concerning the demand for safety education by the completion of safety education, in terms of each material, highest was the demand for safety of acid from the group which completed safety education. In regard to equipments and instruments, when it came to the demand for safety of the handling characteristics of casting machine, the educated group's demand for safety of acid was higher. Regarding other characteristics, the group which was not educated gained higher scores in the demand for safety of emergency treatment. 11. In all areas(materials, machines and others), small towns, girls and juniors showed higher scores in the demand for safety. Based on the above results, it was found that when students conduct the laboratory of dental technology, they would think that many materials, instruments or equipments for use are very dangerous. However, safety education was not fully given to them. Regarding the scores in the damned for safety education, the highest was 4.16 and the lowest was 3.43, which suggests that the scores were generally very high. In this regard, it is necessary to continue delivering a systematic safety education of materials, equipments or instruments used during the laboratory of dental technology. Therefore, through the analysis of each material, instruments or facility used in every laboratory and each process, safety accident types and accident risk factors should be investigated to develop educational materials for this. Moreover, it is required to open safety education as a single course of study or insert safety contents of all materials and machines into the class of dental laboratory instrument or dental materials for the purpose of a systematic and thorough safety education to prevent a safety accident during laboratory.