Recently, the participation of dental hygienists in maxillofacial rehabilitation has increased as the importance of perioperative oral care has become recognized. Dental hygienists require knowledge about maxillofacial prosthetics and appropriate oral care for patients who have maxillary defects. In our conventional education, instructors showed casts to the students and explain maxillofacial prosthetics for about twenty minutes. The aims of this study were to assess the effects of dental hygienist education for maxillofacial prosthetics and to improve our curriculum.
The students were asked several questions before and after two weeks of the practical course in two consecutive years. The first-year results showed that they gained knowledge but could not understand how to deal with patients with maxillary defects. Based on the first-year results, we modified our lecture and focused on oral-care techniques. The second-year results showed that the students gained not only knowledge but also motivation. The survey suggests that modification of the course improved their interest in maxillofacial prosthetics, but was not enough to change their future aspects.
