An investigation into the use of a dental hygienist in school screening.
OBJECTIVE
A pilot study to measure the validity of using a hygienist to carry out school screening.


METHODS
Following a standard training programme a dental hygienist (DH), recruited from general practice, a newly appointed dental officer (DO) and an epidemiologist (SDO), who acted as the standard, all screened the same group of school children on two occasions.


METHODS
An inner city school with known high levels of disease.


METHODS
Ninety-eight 7- and 8-year-old children attending school.


METHODS
For each clinician the levels of referral, the reasons for referral and the repeatability were measured.


RESULTS
The hygienist referred 26 children (27%) for further examination while the DO and the SDO both referred 61 (62%). The DO achieved the required standards of sensitivity and specificity when results were compared with the SDO but the hygienist did not. Intra-examiner reliability in all three clinicians was good.


CONCLUSIONS
The standard training programme used to prepare dental officers to carry out school screening to an agreed standard was insufficient for this hygienist's needs.
Hawley
G M
GM
Mancunian Community Health NHS Trust, Manchester, UK.
Wainwright-Stringer
Y
Y
Craven
R
R
Blinkhorn
A S
AS
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012571:School Dentistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013218:State Dentistry; D000078329:Workforce