Rumi Tano

This study aimed to identify (1) what newly graduated dental hygienists and reinstated dental hygienists consider important for preventing early turnover in their own professions and for encouraging them to continue in the profession more generally and (2) relevant factors among hygienists intending to continue working in the field. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was distributed to 215 Japanese dental hygienists who participated in the technical training programs (response rate: 72.6%). Of them, 143 participants were classified into two groups: newly graduated (NGDH, n = 32) and those reinstated to work (RDH, n = 111). Follow-up for lack of skills was most often selected as important for preventing early turnover among both groups and follow-up for lack of knowledge was significantly selected in the RDH group (p < 0.001). Regarding factors important for career continuation, NGDHs significantly selected gaining job satisfaction, whereas RDHs significantly selected working support. Relevant factors contributing to participants’ intentions to continue in the profession were job satisfaction (NGDH, OR = 8.37; RDH, OR = 8.83), career outlook (RDH, OR = 3.11), and job turnover experience because of marriage and parenting (RDH, OR = 2.70), thereby suggesting the importance of raising awareness regarding career progression and job-related rewards among dental hygienists, their educators, and the government through ongoing career education.

Dental healthcare systems may differ between countries; however, having a family dentist is generally important for proper oral health management. This study aims to analyze the proportion of people in Japan who have a family dentist, and their characteristics. A nationwide web-based survey with 3556 participants (1708 men and 1848 women) showed that 45.6% of men and 54.1% of women had a family dentist (FD group). A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that men in the FD group mostly belonged to older age groups (≥70 s, OR: 2.41), received higher household incomes (≥8000 K JPY, OR: 1.47), brushed their teeth three or more times daily (OR: 1.60), practiced habitual interdental cleaning (OR: 3.66), and fewer lived in rural areas (towns and villages, OR: 0.52). Regarding the women, the majority belonged to older age groups (60 s, OR: 1.52; ≥70 s, OR: 1.73), practiced habitual interdental cleaning (OR: 3.68), and fewer received lower household incomes (<2000 K JPY, OR: 0.61). These results suggest that despite Japan being a country with a public insurance coverage system for both men and women, having a family dentist is associated with disparities in individual socioeconomic factors, particularly age and household income.

Managing oral health through regular dental checkups (RDCs) can help prevent dental diseases. Our study aimed to investigate the proportion and characteristics of those who stopped receiving RDCs owing to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A nationwide web-based survey in Japan in September 2021 (3556 participants) revealed that 62.4% of participants had habitually received RDCs before COVID-19. Of these (n = 2219), 71.5% had received RDCs since the pandemic and 28.5% had not. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed the following characteristics of those without RDCs since the pandemic: female (male, OR: 0.58, 95%CI: 0.45–0.74), lower household income (<2000 K JPY, OR: 1.45, 95%CI: 0.94–2.23; 2000 K–< 4000 K JPY, OR: 1.46, 95%CI: 1.08–1.98), fewer teeth (20–27, OR: 0.63, 95%CI: 0.39–1.03; ≥28, OR: 0.60, 95%CI: 0.36–0.98), and no interdental cleaning habits (OR: 0.51, 95%CI: 0.41–0.63). These results suggest that the disruption to RDCs owing to the pandemic is related to individual socioeconomic factors. Additionally, these individuals have poor oral health, which may be worsened by such barriers.

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between the experience of receiving career education among final‐year dental hygiene students and their views regarding their work and profession, as part of research on the working style of dental hygienists.Methods: An anonymous, self‐administered survey was sent by post to all the 162 dental hygienist schools in Japan with dental hygiene students in their final year in November 2019. The main questions were regarding student attributes, career aspirations, their perspective on work and profession and whether or not they received career education at a dental hygienist training school. Analysis was conducted by cross‐tabulation and logistic regression.Results: Completed questionnaires were sent to us by 150 schools (response rate 92.6%), with a response from 6,270 students. The students who had received career education had significantly higher awareness and plans for the profession and a positive attitude towards the work (p < 0.01). Following adjustment for age, sex, educational attainment, length of the course of study and timing of class the results shows that there was a significant relation between the experience of the career education with having future plans (odds ratio = 2.11, 95% confidence interval = 1.88–2.38, p < 0.01).Conclusions: It was observed that the experience of receiving career education just before graduating from dental hygienist school was related to an increased positive attitude of the students towards their work and profession. Further long‐term investigations are necessary to evaluate the effects of career education among dental hygiene students and their attitude towards their profession.

The super-aged society of Japan is experiencing an increased demand for dental hygienists, of which there is currently a shortage. This study aimed to investigate the factors related to the working status of dental hygienists in Japan. We conducted a survey by mailing a questionnaire on employment to 1444 dental hygienists and obtained 537 valid responses. We conducted a bivariate analysis using either a chi-square test or t-test as well as a multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the factors related to working status. The overall employment rate was 68.2%, with a significant difference between age groups (p < 0.01). Approximately 80% of respondents considered working hours and human relations at the workplace to be important, and more than 70% of respondents considered wages as important. Finally, the following four variables were found to be significantly associated with employment status: training course attendance, a desire to work full-time, consideration of wages as important, and consideration of working hours as important. These findings suggest that it is necessary to improve working conditions and environments, including wages and working hours, as well as provide a more robust system of continued professional development for dental hygienists to increase the workforce.

Objective: The need to make sense of coherence in placement support for student dental hygienists has been shown. On this basis, this study investigated the relationship between the sense of coherence of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work in order to clarify how they perceive their prospects for employment. Methods: The subjects were graduation-year students at all of the dental hygienist training institutions in Japan, and anonymous, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the institutions by post in 2019. The results were analyzed by χ² tests, as well as one-way analysis of variance and multiple comparisons using Tukey’s test, with the level of significance set at 5%. Results: Of 6270 questionnaires that were returned, 6264 were analyzed. The sense of coherence (SOC) component senses were manageability (F(26,221) = 5306.06, p < 0.01), meaningfulness (F(26,222) = 4373.48, p < 0.01), and comprehensibility (F(26,216) = 3986.12, p < 0.01), with meaningfulness scoring significantly higher than the other two (p < 0.01). Analysis with SOC scores divided into the low, medium, and high groups showed a relationship between the SOC of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work (p < 0.01), such that higher SOC scores were associated with a better view of the profession and a better attitude to work (F(26,225) = 282.18, p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results suggest that education that increases SOC in dental hygienist training programs may positively affect future prospects for student dental hygienists.