DHY 254 - Community Dental Health II

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. Describe the role of research in the professional development of a dental hygienist.  Apply evidence-based research when solving a community dentistry problem.

2.  Identify quality sources for data and information pertinent to a problem or issue being examined.  (IL0-CT2)

2. Distinguish between the terms and methodologies involved in Biostatistics.

3. Discuss the various types of statistical techniques used in dental public health.

4. Define the dental hygiene process of care program planning paradigm and describe various planning paradigms. (CODA Standard 2-16).

5. Examine the common traits of various successful dental health programs throughout the US, the State of Michigan, Kent and Ottawa Counties, and explain how dental health programs are deemed successful.   (CODA Standard 2-16).

6. Describe how dental program evaluation measures can be represented visually in graphs, charts and graphics to document the effects of a change effort. (CODA Standard 2-15 and 2-16),

7.   Using target community assessment data, plan, implement, and evaluate a community oral health care project in a small group. (CODA Standard 2-16).

8. Document a small group community oral health care project’s outcomes in a powerpoint, table clinic, or poster, and present this documentation verbally to interested community partners.  (CODA Standard 2-15).

9.   Work in the community with a diverse patient population and provide a variety of dental hygiene services, including but not limited to:
       a. clinical dental hygiene treatment, including special needs groups such as the socially disadvantaged and elderly;
       b.  adapt to various clinical situations;
       c.  interact professionally and with cultural sensitivity towards patients and/or caregivers and healthcare professionals from other disciplines (CODA Standard 2-15 and 2-19 );
       d.  provide dental health education (CODA Standard 2-16);
       e.  summarize the dental hygiene enrichment experiences in a structured reflective journal.

10. Develop a plan to implement a solution to a problem or issue. 

11. Articulate the importance of and find opportunities to volunteer/serve in the community. 

A. Prioritizing program goals

B. Supporting Program Objectives

C. Learning and Programming Models

II. Securing community collaboration and resources

III. Dental Research & Application of Community Dental Health Principals  

A. The role of research in professional development                       

B. Research processes and their use in oral epidemiology           

C. Using biostatistics to plan and evaluate community dental programs 

D. Identifying quality research reports and processes and using them to provide evidence-based care in the community                                             

IV. Planning for evaluation of program outcomes

V. Documentation/presentation of program outcomes

VI. Community Dental Health Program Off-Campus Activities       

A. Ottawa County Miles of Smiles Dental Van/Seal Michigan program

B. Exalta (Hispanic) Health Center experiences

C. Senior Dental Day  

D. Health Fair/oral health promotion activities                       

E.  Selected Community Project   

Group discussion: 4-10%

Service-learning component: 66%

Students must complete 28 hours of off-campus enrichment opportunities and/or on-line educational projects, including self-reflection journal.

Students will complete a self-reflection documenting ways that registered hygienists can find volunteer oral hygiene promotion opportunities in their communities and articulating the importance of these volunteer activities.

Students will develop an educational plan addressing the needs of a target group as assessed in DHY 244. They will select evaluation tools to monitor the progress of education presented and implement their plan as part of small group and compile that information into a project summary and group presentation.