Transcultural barriers and cultural competence in dental hygiene practice.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper is to highlight the need to integrate cultural care into dental hygiene practice.


BACKGROUND
Culture can be better understood through the concepts, beliefs, and norms of the culturally diverse population of the United States. It is important to understand cultural perceptions of oral health in order to manage transcultural barriers that may arise during the utilization of oral healthcare services. It is assumed cultural competence can only be achieved through the knowledge of various cultural backgrounds in an extremely diverse US population.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a need to integrate cultural awareness, knowledge, identification, and respect into the dental hygiene curriculum through the incorporation of competencies and standards associated with dental hygiene practice. Future dental hygienists should be culturally competent to render oral care to an ever expanding and diversified US population.
Rayman
Salim
S
CUNY-Eugenio Maria De Hostos Community College, Bronx, NY, USA. srayman@hostos.cuny.edu
Almas
Khalid
K
D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003479:Curriculum; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009909:Oral Health; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States