title: Attitude of dental hygienists, general practitioners and periodontists towards preventive oral care: an exploratory study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Promoting oral hygiene and stimulating patient's responsibility for his/her personal health remain challenging objectives. The presence of dental hygienists has led to delegation of preventive tasks. However, in some countries, such as Belgium, this profession is not yet legalized. The aim of this exploratory study was to compare the attitude towards oral-hygiene instructions and patient motivational actions by dental hygienists and by general practitioners/periodontists in a context without dental hygienists.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire on demographics (six items), oral-hygiene instructions (eight items) and patient motivational actions (six items) was distributed to 241 Dutch dental hygienists, 692 general practitioners and 32 periodontists in Flanders/Belgium. Statistical analysis included Fisher's exact-test, Pearson's chi-square test and multiple (multinomial) logistic regression analysis to observe the influence of profession, age, workload, practice area and chair-assistance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant variance was found between general practitioners and dental hygienists (in 13 of 14 items), between general practitioners and periodontists (in nine of 14 items) and between dental hygienists and periodontists (in five of 14 items). In addition to qualification, chair-assistance was also identified as affecting the attitude towards preventive oral care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identified divergence in the application of, and experienced barriers and opinions about, oral-hygiene instructions and patient motivational actions between dental hygienists and general practitioners/periodontists in a context without dental hygienists. In response to the barriers reported it is suggested that preventive oriented care may benefit from the deployment of dental hygienists to increase access to qualified preventive oral care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Dental School, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.|Praktijk voor Parodontologie, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thevissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Dental School, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.|Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Bruyn
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Unit, Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Roos
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colman
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Dental School, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sebastiaan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koole
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001530:Belgium; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000523:psychology*; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology*; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009426:Netherlands; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Dental hygienists; general practitioners; oral-hygiene instruction; patient motivation; periodontists; questionnaire study