Prospects of rendering preventive dental care to residents of Zhytomyr city by a hygienist

Abstract

Preventive medicine is the basis for the development of health care systems in the European Union, and investment in prevention is recognized as the most effective investment in the industry of preserving and improving health. Prophylactic direction – one of the most important in modern dentistry.

The aim of the study – analysis of treatment and prevention performance indicators of Municipal Institution Zhytomyr City Dental Hospital No.1 and defi nition of methods for improving the primary prevention.

Materials and Methods. We analyzed the annual reports of internal medicine and surgical departments of Zhytomyr City Dental Hospital No. 1 for the period from 2015 till 2016; we held a poll of 115 patients of the establishment regarding the methods for teeth cleaning and using the accessories and means necessary for oral cavity care. The following methods were used: bibliosemantic, system analysis and logical concluding,
interview, and mathematical processing of the collected data. Results and Discussion. Numeric materials refl ecting the work of Zhytomyr City Dental Hospital No.1 indicate that doctors employed in the establishment conduct numerous maneuvers related to oral cavity sanitation using modern fi lling materials and diagnostic methods. However (and predominantly), all the work is directed at secondary prevention. As a result, annually a lot of teeth are removed due to complex caries (23.370–23.898), and there are a lot of patients with signs of periodontal diseases (3.521–3.766). Dispensary for diseases includes 94 patients with pre-tumor pathology. Considering that public hygienic teaching and education is one of the main components of primary treatment, we held a poll involving 115 patients of Zhytomyr City Dental Hospital No. 1. Study results indicate that the patients of the dental care entity have insuffi cient knowledge on using the accessories and means necessary for hygienic procedures. All the respondents are more ready to invest into prevention care than internal medicine and surgical dental treatment. It is possible to reach an upward trend in dental health indicators only with primary caries and periodontal diseases prevention. Adding hygienist in the staffi ng list of dental care entities would allow not only for comprehensive primary prevention, but would also unload the high-class dentists enabling them to conduct more complex oral cavity operations.

Conclusions. Zhytomyr City Dental Hospital No. 1 employs no hygienists, that is why its work is aimed at secondary treatment of oral cavity diseases. Low sanitary culture level of Zhytomyr residents is tightly connected with dental health indicators. Further development and reforming of dental care demands training of the new generation of highly qualifi ed junior medical staff (hygienists). Involving of hygienists in treatment care allows improving the quality of preventive dental services and decreasing dental diseases incidence rate.