One of the roles of being a dental hygienists includes being an advocate. According to the CDHA, the definition of dental hygienists as an advocate is:
“Speaking, writing or acting in favour of a particular cause, policy or group of people—often aims to reduce inequities in health status or access to health services.”
During the second year community rotation, I had the opportunity to go to the Immigrant Services Society where my group and I were able to identify barriers that new immigrants face when accessing dental care.
Upon observation, it was evident that many cannot access care due to limited English speaking skills, as well as general low oral health literacy. Therefore, as advocates we produced lesson plans to tackle these issues.
From graduating from an international high school, I thought it wouldn’t be as challenging to teach the students on dental terms and personal self care (toothbrushing and flossing techniques). However, I was wrong – it was definitely a challenge.
I was happy that my group creatively came up with ideas such as creating videos for the students to make them understand a lot better and quicker when teaching them a topic. I feel like using visual aids are always the gold standard on teaching strategy.
Filming videos for the students was fun, as well as making worksheets to overcome the inequities in their access of care. Out of all community sites I had been to, this was the site I probably enjoyed most!
Teaching to ISS students. Credits: Iris Feng
Pic from Sensitivity video
Reference:
- National Dental Hygiene Competencies for Entry-to-Practice [Internet]. CDHA. 2008 [cited 24 Nov 2016]. Available from: http://www.cdha.ca/pdfs/profession/resources/nationalcompetencies_en.pdf