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Dental Director's Report - Cockey
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Zion Dental Update
Recently, I met with the Communications team to develop an action plan to promote and recruit more pediatric patients to the practice site. We will be short of our goal but have made great efforts in working toward our goal of 900 unique patients. I have a meeting scheduled with leadership of the Zion site to further review this matter. The site has provided over 300 dental pediatric visits thus far. The patient volume has been increasing. We are exploring outreach efforts with the community.
Dental Hygienist Recruitment Update
We have begun the interview process for the recently posted position of Dental Hygienist. At the creation of this report, we had received 4 resumes. Additional interviews have been scheduled. The inclusion of this midlevel provider will enable us to expand access to care for patients within our community health centers.
The role of the dental hygienist: Dental hygienists have a specific scope of clinical procedures they provide to their patients. They assess a patient's condition in order to offer patient-specific preventative and educational services to promote and maintain good oral health. A major role of a dental hygienist is to perform periodontal therapy with includes such things as periodontal charting, periodontal debridement (scaling and root planning), prophylaxis (preventing disease) or periodontal maintenance procedures for patients with periodontal disease. The use of therapeutic methods assists their patients in controlling oral disease, while providing tailored treatment plans that emphasize the importance of behavioral changes. Some dental hygienists are licensed to administer local anesthesia and perform dental radiography. Dental hygienists are also the primary resource for oral cancer screening and prevention. In addition to these procedures, hygienists may take intraoral radiographs, apply dental sealants, administer topical fluoride, and provide patie...
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