MPH, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / Introduction: There are high levels of dental caries, gingival and periodontal
diseases and a lack of oral health awareness in the wider South African
population. Thus every district’s oral health strategy must include disease
prevention and health promotion approach. Oral hygienists are the main drivers
of these services in the public sector.
Aim: To determine the activities of oral hygienists in the public sector in Gauteng
and KwaZulu – Natal provinces.
Objectives: 1) To obtain the demographic profile of oral hygienists employed in
Gauteng and KwaZulu -Natal provinces. 2) To determine their current duties,
tasks and responsibilities. 3) To identify factors that may hinder the provision of
services.
Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive study and data was collected by
means of a self administered questionnaire that was hand delivered to all oral
hygienists employed in Gauteng and in KwaZulu - Natal provinces in 2005.
Results: Thirty two oral hygienists (78%) responded to the questionnaire, 94% of
whom were female with an average age of 37 years. Twenty three (72%) were
Black, 6 (19%) White, 2 (6%) Indian and 1 (3%) Coloured, with an average
iv
working experience of 10 years. Almost half (47%) were employed as chief, 16%
as senior and 37% as junior oral hygienist. Almost all (94%) complained of poor
salaries and 78% said that there were no opportunities for promotion.
Oral hygienists performed both clinic-based and community-based services. The
majority (95%) of the community-based services was preventive; the most
common preventive services being rendered to the community was oral health
education (84%), brushing programs (75%) and examination, charting and
screening (69%).
Seventy seven percent (77%) of clinic-based services included preventive
procedures the most common being scaling and polishing or root planing (88%),
examination and charting (84%) and oral hygiene instructions (75%).
The majority of oral hygienists (94%) worked in the public sector to provide a
service to the community. Seventy six percent (76%) had experiences that
hindered the provision of services. Almost all (97%) wanted to study further, the
main area of interest being the dental field.
Conclusion: It is evident that the duties, tasks and responsibilities of oral
hygienists in both KZN and GP include activities associated predominantly with
the prevention and control of oral diseases and oral health promotion. In South
Africa, a decline in oral diseases (dental caries and periodontal diseases) can be
achieved by enhancing the use of oral hygienists in the public sector.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/7547 |
| Date | 24 February 2010 |
| Creators | Govender, Urvashnee |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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