DENTAL MANPOWER

DENTIST DENTAL AUXILIARY

NON-OPERATING OPERATING

 Dental Surgery Assistant  School Dental Nurse

 Dental Secretary/Receptionist  Dental Therapist
 Dental Laboratory Technician  Dental Hygienist
 Dental health Educator  Expanded Function
Dental Auxiliaries
 A dental hygienist is an operating auxiliary licensed and
registered to practice dental hygiene under the laws of the
Appropriate state , Province , Territory or Nation .

 The dental hygienist works under the supervision of

dentists.

 Definition : “Dental hygienist is a person , not being a

dentist or a medical practitioner ; who does oral
prophylaxis , gives instructions in oral hygiene &
preventive dentistry , assists the dental surgeon in
chairside work and manages the office . He/she shall work
under the supervision of the dental surgeon.”
- The Dental Council Of India
 Duties :
 Cleaning of mouth and teeth with particular attention to
calculus and stains.

 Topical application of fluorides , sealants and other

prophylactic solutions .

 Screening or preliminary examination of patients as individuals

or in groups , such as school children or industrial employees ,
so that they may be referred to a dentist for treatment.

 Instruction in Oral hygiene.

“An EFDA is a dental assistant or a dental
hygienist in some cases, who has received
further training in duties related to the direct
treatment of patients, though still working
under the direct supervision of a dentist”
 Duties :

 Placing and removing rubber dams.

 Placing and removing temporary restorations.

 Placing and removing matrix bands.

 Condensing and carving amalgam restoration in previously

prepared teeth.

 Placing of acrylic restorations in previously prepared teeth.

 Applying the final finish and polish to the previously listed

restorations.
 Four Levels Of Training and
Qualification were Recognised :
I. Certified dental assistant

II. Preventive dental assistant

III. Dental Hygienist

IV. Dental hygienist with expanded duties

 Training course is of 8 months duration.

 Assistant was taught traditional chair side duties.

 The only intraoral duty was exposing the radiograph.

• The trainee had to be a certified dental assistant

• Full time courses were of 3-6 weeks length

• They are permitted to

 Polish the coronal portions of the teeth without
instrumentation .
 Make impressions for study models.
 Topically apply caries preventive agents.
 Place and remove rubber dams .
 Maintain patients oral hygiene.
 The 8 month training program allowed them to,

 Carryout scaling
 Conduct a preliminary examination of the oral cavity including
taking a case history, a periodontal examination and recording
clinical findings.
 Provide a complete prophylaxis including scaling root planing and
polishing of fillings.
 Apply and remove a periodontal pack.
 Apply fissure sealant.
 Training of 4 months duration was given to dental
hygienist who had at least 1 years practical
experience.
 They were allowed to carryout,

 Removing sutures
 Placing, finishing, and polishing restorations of
amalgam and resin
 Placing and removing matrix bands
 Placing cavity liners
 In developed countries, dentists remain in the urban centres
and a large numbers of areas are too distant from public or
private dental offices for the inhabitants to receive regular
comprehensive care for emergency pain relief.
 Nurses and dental assistants can in such areas , provide
valuable servicee with minimum of training.
 Duties
 Simple dental prophylaxis.

 Basic dental health education.

 Dental first aid.

 Organise fluoride rinse program.

 Perform simple dental repair.

 Theexpert committee on auxiliary dental personnel
of WHO (1959) has suggested 2 new type of dental
auxiliaries:

The dental licentiate.

The dental aide.
 He is a semi independent operator, trained for 2 years
to perform.

 Dental prophylaxis
 Cavity preparations and fillings of primary and permanent
teeth
 Extractions under local anaesthesia
Drainage of dental abscesses.
Treatment of the most prevalent diseases
Supporting tissues of the teeth
Early recognition of more serious dental conditions
 Thistype of auxiliary personnel performs duties which
include, elementary first-aid procedures for the relief of
pain, including:

Extraction of teeth under local anaesthesia

Control of haemorrhage
Recognition of dental disease which is important enough to justify
transportation of the patient to a centre where proper dental care
is available.
 These new auxiliaries are particularly useful in
some countries, having acute dentist shortage,with no
facilities for training dentists.
 ADA (1975) defined four degrees of supervision of
auxiliaries, with the assumption that ultimate
responsibility was assumed by the licensed dentist.

General supervision
Indirect supervision
Direct supervision
Personal supervision
 The dentist has authorized the procedures and they
are being carried out in accordance with the
diagnosis and treatment plan completed by the
dentist.
 Thedentist is in the dental office, authorizes the
procedure and remains in the dental office while the
procedures are being performed by the auxiliary.
 Thedentist is personally operating on a patient and
authorizes the auxiliary to aid treatment by
concurrently performing supportive procedures.
 India has About 309 dental institutions, producing 26,000 to 30,000 BDS graduates
every year.

 India's overall dentist to population ratio 2019

 2.7 lakh registered dentists for a population of 134 crore
 about one dentist for 5,000 people, well above the WHO
recommended ratio of one for 7,500.

 In 2004, the dentist to population ratio was 1:30,000.

 But with a significant geographic imbalance among dental colleges, there has been
a great variation in the dentist to population ratio in rural and urban areas.

 Almost three- fourths of the total number of dentists are clustered in the urban
areas, which houses only one-fourth of the country’s population.

 This is in great contrast to the physician population ratio, which was 1:2,400 in
2000 , 1:1,855 in 2004 and now it is one doctor for every 1,457 citizens
 In1990 there were 3,000 registered hygienists and
5,000 laboratory technicians in India.

 Thisimplies that the service of one hygienist was

available to 7 dentists, and one laboratory technician
renders service to four dentists , whereas it should
ideally be a 1:1 ratio.
 Thepractice of dentistry involves a personal relationship
between the dentists, dental auxiliaries and the patients.

 Bothdentist and auxiliary personnel try to emphasize health

education, to correct misconceptions and to attack apathy
about dental health.

 Because of their unique privileges granted to them, the

members of the dental profession have the responsibility of
providing a high standard of service to their patients and they
should assume their duties freely and voluntarily.