An estimated 50 million Americans have high blood pressure (HBP), with 30% of them unaware of their condition. Both the American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) have advocated including recording blood pressure during the dental appointment. Recording blood pressure is also a standard procedure in patient care. This study surveyed 236 dental hygienists attending a continuing education program to document their blood pressure assessment practices. The majority (55%) of participants indicated they rarely or never record blood pressure. The primary reason cited by 51% of the participants was a lack of time in the appointment. Based on these findings, a recommendation was made for dental offices to modify their patient check-in procedures to include recording blood pressure. Citation Hughes CT, Thompson AL, Collins MA. Blood Pressure Assessment Practices of Dental Hygienists. J Contemp Dent Pract 2006 May;(7)2:055-062.

Foreign-trained dentists interested in seeking employment in the United States face numerous challenges, starting with the fact that their degrees are often not valid for U.S. practice because of international differences in the style of education and clinical practice. A small number of North American dental schools have offered modiied predoctoral programs for graduates of foreign dental schools since the 1970s, and currently, numerous U.S. dental schools offer such educational programs. The purpose of this literature review was to investigate what has been reported about barriers encountered by foreign-trained dentists in seeking professional opportunities in the United States, focusing especially on factors affecting the admissions process into predoctoral and residency programs, the learning process, and employment of foreign-trained dentists in the United States. This study concludes that published indings do not support the generalization that all foreign-trained dentists seeking employment in the United States have had the same barriers, and the authors conclude that there is a need for further research on this topic. Supplemental information can improve the transition of foreign-trained dentists into a culturally diverse environment. In addition, with greater availability of data, the need for the establishment of assistance programs for this population can be assessed.Dr. Veerinder Pannu is a dental resident,

The purpose of this study was to assess the current characteristics of full-time faculty in baccalaureate dental hygiene programs in the United States. A mail questionnaire was sent to program administrators for distribution to faculty. Program response rate was 89.7 percent (26/29), and full-time faculty response rate was 68.3 percent (114/167). The percentage of dental hygiene faculty who are at the associate or assistant professor ranks was similar at 35.1 percent and 34.2 percent, respectively. Forty percent of faculty are not on a tenure track, and 38.6 percent are tenured. The faculty who responded to this survey were almost exclusively white (93.9 percent) and female (95.6 percent), and their average age was 50.2 years. Faculty reported several areas of dissatisfaction with the academic work environment, including lack of time available for student advisement, class preparation, and keeping current in field, as well as concerns about heavy workload and inadequate compensation. A majority of the respondents (56 percent [39/70]) indicated that they plan to retire from the labor force in ten years or less. Three conclusions may be drawn from the findings of this study: 1) there is a lack of diversity within the dental hygiene faculty, which currently consists primarily of white females with few underrepresented minorities and males; 2) if trends persist, there will be a noticeable shortage of dental hygiene educators in the future as faculty move toward retirement without equivalent numbers of younger individuals joining the ranks of the faculty; and 3) there is a lack of published information regarding dental hygiene faculty characteristics. To address the potential academic workforce shortage, we make two recommendations based indirectly on the findings of this study: 1) the American Dental Association should include more information on dental hygiene faculty characteristics in its existing annual survey of all accredited programs; and 2) the number of advanced education programs in dental hygiene should be increased.

This article reports the results of a study conducted to determine the institutional responsibilities and workload of fulltime faculty in baccalaureate dental hygiene programs. A mail questionnaire was sent to program administrators, who were asked to distribute it to faculty. Faculty reported an average work week of 50.5 hours, which includes 46.9 hours spent on paid activities and 3.6 hours spent on unpaid activities. In specific workload activities, the majority of faculty time was spent on teaching undergraduate students (56.8 percent), institutional service (14.9 percent), and research/scholarship (9.5 percent). Forty-seven percent of the faculty described their primary professional research as program/curriculum design, and 78 percent were not engaged in funded research. The most common form of scholarship reported by faculty was presentations at professional meetings; this outnumbered all other types of scholarly activity, including publications. Faculty spent significantly more time than they preferred on teaching undergraduate students and institutional service. Faculty spent significantly less time than they preferred on teaching graduate/first professional students, research/scholarship, professional growth, and public service. We recommend that future studies compare workloads and scholarly production of dental hygiene faculty in associate and baccalaureate degree programs. We also recommend future longitudinal assessments of institutional responsibilities and workload of baccalaureate dental hygiene faculty.

Aim:The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and severity of hypertension in a dental hygiene clinic and evaluate factors related to the disease. Methods and Materials:Records of 615 patients, treated by dental hygiene students during 2003, were reviewed. Data collected included systolic and diastolic blood pressure, presence of diabetes and renal disease, non-modifiers (race, gender, and age), and modifiers (marital status, smoking habits, and occupation). Results:According to the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC7) classification, 154 (25%) of the subjects had normal blood pressure readings, 374 (60.8%) had prehypertension, and 87 (14.1%) had stage 1 hypertension. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in the JNC7 classification between groups when considering the non-modifiers' race (p=.02) and the modifiers' smoking habits (p=.03) and occupation (p=.01). A statistically significant difference in the JNC7 classification existed between groups with diabetes (p=.00). The majority of patients had blood pressure readings in the prehypertension stage.Conclusion: Based on these results, the researchers recommend clinical policy modifications which include: additional documentation for blood pressure readings in the prehypertension stage, lowering the systolic Abstract © Seer Publishing reading from 160 mmHg to 140 mmHg when adding hypertension alert labels, and noting prehypertension/ hypertension on the dental hygiene care plan with the appropriate interventions.