Profile:
Dental hygienist
Functions:
The course in "Dental Hygiene" is part of the class L/SNT3 TECHNICAL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS.
Graduates in this class L/SNT3, pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 3 of Legislative Decree no. 502 of 30 December 1992 and subsequent amendments and additions, pursuant to Law No 42 of 26 February 1999 and to Law no. 251, are health professionals whose field of activity and responsibility is determined by the contents of the ministerial decrees setting up professional profiles and by the educational programmes of their respective university and post-graduate courses as well as specific codes of ethics.
At the end of the training cycle, the profile is that of a healthcare professional of the technical care class (dental hygienist) working in the healthcare, carrying out with professional title and autonomy, technical care activities, as provided for in the regulations concerning the identification of the figures and their professional profiles defined by decree of the Minister of Health.
The general cultural profile provides that graduates in dental hygiene are adequately trained in basic disciplines, enabling them to better understand the most important elements that are the basis of oro-dental (oral cavity) pathologies arising in the developmental, adult and geriatric age, upon which they carry out their actions for the improvement of oral health (through primary prevention, secondary prevention or therapeutic assistance). They must also be able to use at least one language of the European Union, besides Italian, in the specific professional field.
More in detail, the Degree Course in Dental Hygiene, even though a technical course, provides also competences in prevention: prevention and assistance are the two natural areas in which every dental hygienist works.
Graduates in dental hygiene will carry out the activities provided by the Decree of the Ministry Of Health, 15 March 1999, no. 137 and successive modifications and integrations; that is to say, they carry out tasks related to the prevention of or-dental affections of any age group, as indicated by dental practitioners and medical surgeons qualified to practice dentistry,
Dental Hygiene graduates perform dental health education and participate in primary prevention projects of dental health, also within the public healthcare system; they collaborate on the compilation of the dentist's clinical record and deal with the collection of technical-statistical data; Provide the deplaquing of dental surfaces, the ablation of the tartar and the sanding of roots, as well as the topical application of various prophylactic means; they provide instruction on the various oral hygiene methods and on the use of diagnostic tools to highlight bacterial plaque and microbiological colonization, motivating the need for periodic clinical controls; they explain the rules of a rational diet for the protection of dental health. Current oral health demand is reflected in the demand for a combination of basic and professional skills that result in the formation of a professional profile of the expert in Oral Health Prevention, of both the individual patient and of the community. The dental hygienist may be employed in the design, production, management of oral health prevention services, in the provision of professional health services (eg dental deplaquing, tartar ablation, periodontal survey, dental charts compilation, surface sealing seals), in the use of non-invasive medical devices for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, and in the use of appropriate medical diagnostic software (eg digital periodontal survey, crevicular fluid extraction, alitometry).
The WHO's Global Goals to be achieved by 2020 establish, with scientific evidence, the need to guide public health policy towards projects relating to oral health and lifestyles. Among healthcare professionals in the technical-care class, hygienists have the skills to deal with primary prevention (proper lifestyles) and secondary prevention by intercepting signs and symptoms of serious diseases such as oral cancer, and at the same time with oral healthcare through hygiene interventions in the oral cavity that improve the state of health at all ages.
The profession of dental hygienist can be carried out in different areas: the private one within the dental surgeries, where they provide access to quality care, the public facilities (local health companies, public hospitals, University hospitals), where they operate in prevention services, as well as in scientific research, the community social services, elderly and long-term residences, centers for disabilities, schools.
In all these areas, the activity of dental hygienists improves the cost/benefit ratio of dental care due to the preventive character of their work.
In the modern conception of oral cavity medicine, dental hygienists are, directly or on the advice of the dentist, in charge of the oral health care of the patient (adult or child) with chronic or neoplastic systemic pathology (ie special care) at public or private healthcare facilities.
Finally, graduates in Dental Hygiene can continue their training in the Italian Universities providing 2nd cycle degrees (http://www.aiditalia.it/sedi-laurea-specialistica/).
Professional opportunities:
Graduates in Dental Hygiene can work both as private practitioners and in hospitals, health care facilities, and also in research centers and universities. In fact, they are healthcare professionals as provided by the Decree of the Ministry of Health of March 15, 1999, No.137 and subsequent modifications and additions, who carry out, as assigned by dentists and medical surgeons legitimate to the practice of dentistry, tasks related to the prevention of oro-dental affections.