Baccalaureate dental hygiene graduates' perceptions of community dental health employment.

A survey was conducted on 352 University of Iowa baccalaureate dental hygiene graduates to determine the percentage of graduates that had been employed in community dental health, the percentage that were interested in community dental health, employment, and the respondents' perceptions of community dental health employment as it related to the dental hygienist. Specific findings of the study included: 1. Less than 15 percent of the respondents had been employed in community dental health. 2. Nearly 40 percent of the respondents were interested in community dental health employment. 3. Subjects were more opinionated and had more positive impressions of the intrinsic factors than of the extrinsic factors that affect the dental hygienist's employment in community dental health. 4. Subjects who were interested in and/or who had been employed in community dental health had significantly greater positive impressions of community dental health employment than those not interested.