The effect of new technologies in training and utilization of dental auxiliaries in the United States Air Force.

Training of Dental Auxiliaries in the United States Air Force is a highly structured process combining training in short formal courses at the School of Health Care Sciences with extended periods of formal on-the-job training and self-study correspondence courses conducted at bases throughout the Air Force. The rigid control imposed by Air Force training directives is a major factor in the success of this dual channel concept. Dental auxiliaries are trained for what they need to know, as outlined in a 'task list' for their specific career field and behavioral objectives devised from the task list. Dental auxiliaries are utilized in the field performing in four basic areas: Dental Laboratory Technology, Chairside Dental Assisting, Preventive Dentistry (dental hygiene), and Expanded Function Dental Assisting. The scope of their duties range all the way from receiving the patient at the reception desk, assisting with dental treatment and dismissing the patient, to long-range planning for resource requirements necessary for the operation of a complete dental service. To paraphrase an old saying: 'The dental auxiliary is the backbone of the Dental Corps of the United States Air Force'.