EXISTING EVIDENCE FOR DENTAL HYGIENE AND DENTAL THERAPY INTERVENTIONS: A DETERMINATION OF DISTINCT PATIENT POPULATIONS.

Abstract

Dental patients seeking care expect to receive treatment options that are supported by evidence-based dental research based on dental patient-reported outcomes (dPROs). In dental hygiene and dental therapy, there is little usage of dPROs and dental patient-reported outcome measures (dPROMs) to assess the four-dimensions of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). In order to assess the current evidence for dental hygiene and dental therapy interventions, the determination of distinct patient populations is essential. To determine patient populations that are clinically distinct groups of dental hygiene and dental therapy patients. To provide a preliminary literature search for a systematic review to identify interventions that provide four-dimensional oral health impact information for these patient populations. This narrative and methodological manuscript utilizes an allied dental expert panel consisting of two dental hygienists, two dental therapists, and a moderator to generate a list of clinically distinct patient populations within the scopes of dental hygiene and dental therapy. Additionally, a preliminary literature search utilizing PubMed was completed to assess the current research within the scopes of practice of dental hygiene and dental therapy that uses dPROs and dPROMs to assess the four-dimensions of OHRQoL. The patient population list generated by the allied dental expert panel and the patient populations from the articles identified in the preliminary literature search were compared to determine the needed and available evidence for dental hygiene and dental therapy interventions. There were 19 distinct patient populations derived from the allied dental expert panel. Nine of the distinct patient populations were shared in the dental hygiene and dental therapy scopes of practice, six were specific to the dental hygiene scope of practice, and four were specific to the dental therapy scope of practice. From the preliminary literature search, five distinct patient populations had corresponding research. Of those, three distinct populations were shared between dental hygiene and dental therapy, and two were dental hygiene specific. There : were no distinct patient populations found from the preliminary search specific to dental therapy. There is a lack of research in the dental hygiene and dental therapy scopes of practice regarding utilization of dPROs and dPROMs to assess the four-dimensions of OHRQoL. In order to standardize the assessment of OHRQoL, the development of a list of distinct patient populations for dental hygiene and dental therapy interventions is essential. This initiative identifies which populations are lacking evidence and provides a pragmatic approach to conducting a systematic review to assess the four-dimensions of OHRQoL in the field of dental hygiene and dental therapy.