2022, Vol.22, No.5

Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.8

pISSN : 2287-1705 / eISSN : 2288-2294
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jksdh

Objectives: Although the number of clinics offering temporomandibular joint (TMJ) physical therapy has been increasing to help with its treatment, the scope of dental physiotherapy reflected in the dental hygienist curriculum is very limited. This study aims to survey the status of dental physiotherapy work and the need for educating dental hygienists. Methods: An online community platform was used to survey 140 dental hygienists working in clinical dental hospitals. The survey included questions about general characteristics, the experience of dental physiotherapy work, the importance of physiotherapy work performance, and the need for physical therapy education for dental hygienists. Results: Half of the study participants had prior experience working in dental physiotherapy. Out of 140 participants, 88.6% agreed with the opinion that ‘physical therapy work is important or that it will become important’. Furthermore, 84.3% agreed that ‘physical therapy education is necessary for dental hygienists’. Even dental hygienists without physical therapy experience (50.7%) believed that related education would be necessary because of the importance of physical therapy work in dentistry. Conclusions: This study suggests the need for education in dental physiotherapy to help dental hygienists effectively perform clinical tasks.

Objectives: This study aims to confirm the educational necessity and utilization of VR media. And it was conducted to prepare basic data necessary for the use of VR in various dental hygiene education in the future and the development of innovative practical training courses. Methods: Before and after using VR in oral radiology practice classes, learning interest (4 items), learning commitment (9 items), learning motivation (5 items), educational media preference (4 items), and satisfaction (10 items) were investigated and analyzed. Friedman two way ANOVA by ran a nonparametric analysis corresponding to repeated measures ANOVA was performed. The statistical significance level was 0.05. Results: It was found that there were statistically significant differences in learning interest, learning immersion, and learning motivation according to the type of oral radiology practice education medium (p<0.05). Conclusions: VR is expected that the use of learning media using VR will lead to students’ interest, immersion, and learning motivation in class, and that positive learning effects on VR education media can be sufficiently obtained.

Objectives: This study aimed to confirm the association between cognitive function and oral health status in the elderly. Methods: In this study, 5,794 respondents, aged 55 or older, who had participated in the 7th aging research panel survey were used. Statistical analyses were performed using a complex samples cross-tabulation analysis, complex samples general linear model, and a complex sample multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: After analyzing the cognitive function of the elderly according to their oral health conditions, it was found that suspicions of dementia (19.6%) and cognitive function decline (25.9%) were more common for those who wore dentures than for those who did not wear dentures (p<0.001). Compared to those who did not wear dentures, those who wore dentures were linked to a 1.665 times higher suspicion of dementia (p<0.001). In comparison, cognitive decline was 0.964 times lower when the number of natural teeth increased by 1, and it was 0.941 times lower when the oral health evaluation index for the elderly increased by 1 point (p<0.001). Conclusions: As a result of this study, it was confirmed that cognitive function and oral health status are related in the elderly. Therefore, systematic measures for oral health management and oral health promotion should be prepared in tandem with awareness of possible cognitive decline in the elderly.