In 1978, the term “primary care provider” was recognized as a new definition for a dental hygienist by the International Conference on Primary Health Care. (1) Many questions come to mind: what is a primary care provider? How does this relate to dental hygienists? Why is it important? A primary care provider is under the notion of primary health care (PHC). Primary health care consists of values that includes having “universal access to and coverage of health services based on health needs, individual and community participation and self-reliance, and prevention.” (1) In relation to dental hygiene, these principles of PHC has shown to be the guideline of an organized health care system to enable to the population to access more care as well as continuing developing the process of care needed for the population. (1)
In addition, Ordich further discusses that dental hygienists would have more access to vulnerable populations compared to other health professionals, stating to be the first to access for the “untouched” individuals. (2) This is what makes dental hygienists as primary care providers: they are the first point of access to a health-care system, and during care, dental hygienists decide each individuals’ continuity of care, as well as making referrals to specialists to expand access to other health professionals in the health care system. (2) In addition, dental hygienists can also provide health promotion, primary maternity and mental health care. (1)
In focus on my own practice, as a primary care provider I follow the fourteen competencies from the UBC Dental Hygiene Program, which is now used as the Canadian Dental Hygienist Association’s (CDHA) dental hygiene competencies: integration of knowledge of discipline, professionalism, communication, collaboration, coordination, leadership, and clinical therapy will enable dental hygienists to work effectively with no only their clients, but with other health professionals as well relevant to the client to provide the most optimal care in the clinical setting. Research use, health promotion, disease prevention activities, oral health education, advocacy, policy use are other competencies to provide dental hygienists to be updated with newly gained knowledge for providing better care as well as using these information for promotion and education by implementing activities and programs in the community and clinical setting. (3) These competencies make up how dental hygienists provide care to either the individual or the population as a whole.
For example, my client, Mrs. X is a retired real-estate agent and shares upon her first visit to have White Coat Syndrome, where her blood pressure rises only when being in a clinical setting. Therefore, my care for Mrs. X involves a lot of effective communication, patience and part of her treatment plan involves local anesthetic. In preparation for local anesthetic, I made sure my client is comfortable by causally talking to her and monitoring her blood pressure. After the session involving local anesthetic, I would follow up on how she was feeling, and by the next appointment, she gave me a thank you card saying, “Hi Ena! I just wanted to thank you your good work. You’ll be ideal in your chosen line of work. Thank you for everything, you will become a great dental hygienist.”
It was apparent that as a primary-care giver, the care I provided is in which “closeness to the population and a continuining process of care” as stated by Monajem et al. (1)
References:
- Monajem S. Intergration of oral health into primary health care: the role of dental hygienists and the WHO stewardship. Int J Dent Hygiene 2006; 4:47-51.
- Odrich J. The dental hygienist: a primary care provider. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 1985;45(2): 64-9.
- UBC Dentistry. Canadian Competencies for Baccalaureate Dental Hygiene Programs. 2015 [cited 2016 Nov 26]. Available from: https://secure.dentistry.ubc.ca/intranet/academicprograms/hygiene/DentalHygieneCompetenciesDocument.pdf