Community Health in the Dental Hygiene Diploma Curriculum

The focus of the community health component in the curriculum is multidimensional.

First, the dental hygiene student gains insight into the position that dental hygienists have in community health.  This position encompasses all five of the CDHO roles and responsibilities of clinician, health promoter, educator, administrator, and researcher.  Students participate in all five of these roles through didactic instruction, assignments, in-class written tests, community field placements, and the incorporation of community health partners into the CBC student dental hygiene clinic.  Presently, our roles as registered health care providers are being further defined by the eight domains of dental hygiene, as outlined by the national dental hygiene competencies.  This new era of dental hygiene provides community health with a very exciting future and the possibilities for further enhancement of this valuable profession are bountiful.

Second, the dental hygiene student enhances his/her understanding of the social responsibility associated with the dental hygiene profession.  Dental hygienists have a specialized body of knowledge as related to their extensive understanding of oral health and the link with overall health and wellness, their continuous dedication to disease prevention, and the natural tendency towards client-centered care.  Along with the extensive body of knowledge, dental hygienists have a responsibility to the individuals that comprise the general population; the dental hygiene students are trained to seek out clients in the community, in contrast to the dental hygiene services traditionally provided to clients that seek it out themselves.

Third, the dental hygiene student will expand his/her understanding of evidence-based practice.  Studies of epidemiology, biostatistics, scientific communication, and statistical significance all contribute to competency when faced with implementing evidence supported treatment modalities into client care in a timely fashion.

Lastly, an understanding of community health programs is undertaken.  The dental hygiene students study effective community program design, and how to plan and evaluate successful community programs.  Through numerous field placements, students are then provided with the opportunity to design and implement their own community programs, an experience that consistently reports positive experiences on behalf of the students and community partners alike.

Community health is a unique aspect of the dental hygiene curriculum.  It gathers information learned from all other aspects of the dental hygiene body of knowledge, and challenges dental hygienists and future dental hygienists to rethink our perception of the client and how we apply the dental hygiene process of care.

The significance of the study of community health has greatly increased with the ability for dental hygienists in Ontario to self-initiate.  A thorough understanding of community health is mandatory for future dental hygienists to be able to successfully integrate self-initiation into practice.  Self-initiation is the bridge between dental hygiene and the people; community health provides dental hygienists with tools to succeed once that bridge has been crossed.