University of Sydney School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health, 2-18 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills, New South Wales 2010, Australia.
University of Sydney, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Camperdown, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Br Dent J. 2021 Apr;230(8):533-538. doi: 10.1038/s41415-021-2836-z. Epub 2021 Apr 23.
Introduction With ongoing needs in oral healthcare being unmet, dental therapists, dental hygienists and oral health therapists have the potential to assume greater roles and responsibilities in the provision of care. This review provides a global overview of the education and career opportunities of these professions, contributing to the discussion on the future trajectories of all three professions.Methods A scoping review was conducted to collate and summarise the current available evidence from peer-reviewed journal articles, published reports and books, and websites of professional associations and government agencies.Results Of the 145 sources identified and reviewed, 53 were included in the qualitative synthesis. The themes were categorised into domains: 1) dental therapy; 2) dental hygiene; and 3) oral health therapy.Conclusion The results of this review indicated that, although there has been continuous advocacy for dental therapists, dental hygienists and oral health therapists to assume roles beyond the traditional clinical practice, the majority of the professionals still mainly practise as clinicians. Many dental therapists, dental hygienists and oral health therapists felt limited by their scope of practice and were dissatisfied with the lack of career pathways. Additional research is needed to examine the influences behind career development for all three professions.
简介
由于口腔保健需求未得到满足，牙科治疗师、牙科洁治师和口腔健康治疗师有可能在提供护理方面承担更大的角色和责任。本综述提供了这些专业的教育和职业机会的全球概述，为讨论这三个专业的未来发展轨迹做出了贡献。
方法
进行了范围综述，以收集和总结同行评议的期刊文章、出版报告和书籍以及专业协会和政府机构网站中当前现有的证据。
结果
在所确定和审查的 145 个来源中，有 53 个被纳入定性综合。这些主题被归类为以下领域：1）牙科治疗；2）牙科洁治；3）口腔健康治疗。
结论
本综述的结果表明，尽管一直倡导牙科治疗师、牙科洁治师和口腔健康治疗师承担超出传统临床实践的角色，但大多数专业人员仍主要作为临床医生执业。许多牙科治疗师、牙科洁治师和口腔健康治疗师感到受到实践范围的限制，并对缺乏职业发展途径感到不满。需要进一步研究以探讨这三个专业的职业发展背后的影响。
