A Center for Oral Health Promotion: Establishing an Inter–Professional Paradigm for Dental Hygiene, Health Care Management and Nursing Education

Susan I. Duley; Peter G. Fitzpatrick; Ximena Zornosa; W. Gail Barnes

Abstract

Purpose: The need for education about oral health conditions has been discussed in recent years. Current research has shown correlations between oral and systemic disease. Disease entities have been connected to bacteremia and inflammatory processes, both of which can result from oral pathologies. Professionals need to be educated about these connections and advised how, by maintaining proper oral health, they may avoid systemic consequences.

Students in dental hygiene, health care management and nursing programs can play a vital role in this education. By jointly creating and operating an educational Center for Oral Health Promotion, they can better understand each other's professions. This will facilitate developing the skill set to reach out to the underserved and establish protocols to provide health literacy and care at affordable rates. They can also better appreciate the interconnections between health care delivery and its management while gaining skills needed to work in an inter–professional setting.

A Center for Oral Health Promotion would expand services typically offered in dental hygiene educational settings as well as expand dental hygiene, nursing and health care management student experiences.

Footnotes

Susan Duley, RDH, EdD, LPC, is the Dean of Dental Hygiene at the West Coast University, Los Angeles campus. Peter Fitzpatrick, EdD, RPh, is a professor and department head of the health care management program at Clayton State University in Morrow, GA. Ximena Zornosa, DMD, is an associate professor in the Department of Dental Hygiene at Clayton State University. W. Gail Barnes, RDH, PhD, is the chairperson and associate professor of the Department of Dental Hygiene at Clayton State University.
This study supports the NDHRA priority area, Health Services Research: Determine the extent to which dental hygienists' working in collaborative practice settings with other health professionals or organizations improves the cost–effectiveness and quality of health care outcomes.