Dental Hygienists’ Knowledge Regarding Dental Implant Maintenance Care: A national survey

Abstract

Purpose: Dental implants are now considered the standard of care for supporting dental restorations in edentulous areas. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and practices of dental hygienists in the United States regarding dental implant assessment and maintenance care.

Methods: A 34-item quantitative survey was developed and distributed nationally to a randomly selected sample of 10,000 dental hygienists from the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) email database. Responses were collected and analyzed via an online software program using frequency distributions for categorical variables.

Results: A total of 2,018 dental hygienists participated for a response rate of 21%. The majority of respondents (98%) provided care to patients with dental implants. While the majority of respondents reported routinely assessing patients for bleeding/exudate, mobility, plaque/calculus, and tissue color around implants, 34% rarely/never checked for cement around implants, 31% rarely/never probed, and 54% rarely/never checked the occlusion. Nearly half of the respondents (44%) reported that they were unable to remove plaque as effectively from dental implants as from natural teeth. A majority (60%) reported using plastic/resin scalers, however only 7% of those who use plastic/resin scalers felt they were effective. While only 5% reported using air-polishers, 71% of the users felt they were effective. An oral irrigator was the most commonly recommended self-care hygiene aid for patients with implants and continuing education courses were the primary source of implant-related knowledge among respondents.

Conclusion: The wide variation in implant-related assessment and maintenance care practices among dental hygiene respondents indicates a need for greater emphasis on evidence-based practices in dental hygiene curricula and in continuing education to ensure optimal care for patients with dental implants.