Motivational strategies in dental hygiene care.

The process of educating and motivating patients presents interesting challenges to dental hygienists in clinical practice today. The recent technological advances in preventive and restorative dentistry, coupled with a high level of consumer interest in prevention of dental disease, have resulted in a unique opportunity for patients to attain high levels of oral health throughout their lifetimes. These challenges can also mean an expanded and more interesting role for dental hygienists that incorporates theories of motivation and change in conjunction with oral hygiene instruction as an integral component of dental hygiene care. Disease prevention and oral health promotion remain the essential components of dental hygiene treatment with patients. It is through the examination and application of existing theories in the behavioral and social sciences that dental hygiene care can be improved and revitalized. Both patients and dental hygienists benefit from activities that reexamine and analyze basic assumptions in oral hygiene instruction and motivation. It is a welcome and positive trend that preventive health care and motivation are important areas of concern to dental hygienists in clinical practice today.