Dental hygienist in Qatar: Review and challenges

Abstract

Bachelor's and diploma dental hygienists' practices vary in different countries regarding education duration, the scope of practice, salary, and challenges. The present review article aims to posit a comparison of the dental hygiene profession in Qatar and other world's countries as US, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, and GCC countries; to identify the challenges and gaps of dental hygiene in the dental hygiene field in Qatar, and to set suggestions for dental hygienists' associations worldwide to resolve the present challenges that dental hygienists face. The review used various articles to explore the history of dental hygienists and compare the profession in different countries. The study adopted the scholarly publications that the researchers obtained from academic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, published theses and dissertations, a popular news article, the trade sources commonly referred to as the trade publications, and government documents. The findings suggest that lower salaries and limited scope of work are eminent in Asia and GCC countries. European countries have different legislation for dental hygienists, making their scope of work limited to the country where the professionals study. This review also suggests the high level of stress, burnout, and musculoskeletal disorders among dental hygienist professions in most countries. We recommend resolving the dental hygienists' challenges by increasing awareness among the dentists, medical professions, and general public, standardizing their scope of practice, assigning those assistants, and giving those technologies to simplify their work.