Assessing Participants’ Responses to Dental Hygiene Care Provided by Dental Hygiene Students at NYCCT
This study is a continuum of the research conducted under the supervision of Professor Susan Davide RDH, MS, MSEd, and Professor Audra Haynes RDH, MPH in Fall 2019.
Our project is focused on promoting the services available at NYCCT’s dental hygiene clinic and bringing the awareness of the low-cost dental hygiene services to our students and community.
Our research is separated in two phases. Phase I included the initial information collected at the recruitment of the participants at the Voorhees building. Post-treatment or Phase II included a specifically designed patient questionnaire.
As a quantitative research design, the data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel for both phases of the research.
The results reveal that architect and design major students are unaware of the dental hygiene clinic existence and the benefits of no-cost dental care. Phase II data suggest that patients do not follow appropriate daily oral hygiene practices. Therefore, most of the participants had moderate tartar and plaque build-up, and signs of gum disease.
At the end of the project, the knowledge of preventive dental care of the participants significantly increased and sparked an interest in maintaining good oral health with biannual dental hygiene visits. We aim to raise the awareness of low-cost dental hygiene care available at NYCCT’s dental hygiene clinic, improve the dental health of our students and community by providing high-quality dental hygiene care.
