FINAL V3 Action Research Project

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Action Research Project
If I developed a simplified communication toolkit, would hygienists find it helpful to aid in
the communications on oral health? Would the profession welcome this?
Victoria Wilson RDH RDT
Abstract –
Introduction
There are a wide range of communication strategies that have been researched and
available to be used in the communication of oral health. However, an effective
simplified communication toolkit, combining and consolidating the existing
communications strategies, is not available for the communication of oral health.
The intent of the action research project, is to determine a preliminary simplified
communication toolkit to enhance the communication of oral health, that will aid in
facilitation of the change process, that could be welcomed by the profession.
Methodology
By developing a survey monkey that was circulated via email amongst practicing dental
hygienists in the UAE, UK, USA and Canada, it was possible to obtain data on the
profession’s opinion. On their feelings on the status of the oral health of their patients.
and if they would welcome a simplified communication toolkit intended for oral health.
Results
It is apparent that patients continue to return to the dental hygienist with persistently
poor oral hygiene. Clinicians become frustrated about this, and would be keen to
welcome a simplified communication toolkit intended for oral health into their existing
practice.

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Conclusion
Dental hygienists would welcome a simplified communication toolkit focused on open
ended questions for oral health education. Further research is required to finalize a
comprehensive communication toolkit that could be amalgamated into daily practice.
Action Research Question
the communications on oral health? Would the profession welcome this?
Introduction - Research Background
Since an early age, I had a fascination for dentistry, a practical vocation, communicating
throughout the day, that makes a considerable contribution to peoples’ health and
wellbeing. I could picture myself within this profession, and have been working in the
field of dentistry for 13 years now. My career started in the UK and then moved to
Dubai, where I now live and work. In Dubai dental hygiene practice is not as common
as in the UK, where I have first hand experience. Patient’s compliance with oral
hygiene regimes have presented more of a challenge in the UAE than in the UK, along
with their attendance to regular appointments. Communication is a challenge as I treat
a multicultural society from varied economical backgrounds. Some patients have never
heard of a dental hygienist before, let alone seen one before. It is a challenge to reach
a high standard of oral health for these patients. Yet my commitment to deliver optimal
care that will lead to all my patients achieving optimal oral health never waivers. I
believe optimizing on my communication skills to be key, and this is where my field of
interest lies and has developed over the years. I have had a special interest in reading
articles and books on communication, and searching for tools that I could incorporate

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into my daily practice. Despite using existing communication strategies, there is little
clarity on a model that I can turn to, and adapt on a daily basis and fit into the time
constraints of an appointment. On occasions I have felt swamped with options of
communications strategies, and pressured to choose the most appropriate strategy,
best suited to the patient in the limited appointment time available.
The curriculum for my diploma in dental hygiene and dental therapy had limited
modules on communication. I felt more equipped to simply show and instruct the
patient on the recommended oral hygiene technique, and using a model replicating a
tell show do approach.
I believe a clinician in a work environment with optimal success rates, will feel less
frustrated and face less stress with greater potential of fulfilment, compared to a
clinician in a work environment with more frustration, obstacles and resistance to
achieving optimal success rates (Hemsley B et al. 2012). On personal reflection of my
previous and current professional position, I have identified within myself and amongst
colleagues, a frustration surrounding resistance in achieving the intended oral health
goals, based on a lack of compliance from patients. Discussions have taken place in
dental hygiene meetings on topics such as long standing patients presenting with
persistent poor oral hygiene. It became apparent that the lack of understanding and
compliance was linked to a shortfall in the mode of communication delivery, especially
with dental hygienists based in the UAE. Hygienists would persistently re-demonstrate
what to carry out, and re-explain why the objectives of carrying out effective optimal oral
hygiene were beneficial in a similar way. It is for this exact reason I have identified the

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need for re-evaluation of our communication approach. According to (House of Lords
Science and Technology Select Committee 2010 – 2012) “There is a lack of applied
research at a population level to support specific interventions to change the behavior of
large groups of people”.
I realized the problem I wanted to solve in my action research project would aid in
improving patients’ commitment to their dental hygiene appointments, assisting in
improving their oral health. Since patients frequently don’t maintain their dental hygiene
appointments and cancel last minute, my patients fail to become healthy and my values
are denied within the objectives of my clinical practice.
Incorporating my “values-in-practice” within my work is essential to maintain an honest
practice. “Values-in-practice” are outlined by (Aristotle 1953) as the, “foundations of
living and working”. I then searched deeper to identify my strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats, using the SWOT analysis. I was able to identify that an
external weakness I was most bothered about was centered around the lack of effective
communication strategies that I could utilize with ease.
On reflection of my own practice I have adopted various communication strategies
within my daily practice to address the range of multicultural patients in the UAE
implementing OARS, which includes: Open questions, affirmations, reflective listening,
and summarizing.
Examples of open ended questions include:
Asking patients how they feel about their oral health?

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Including evocative questions, affirmation, reflective listening, motivational interviewing.
Encouraging patients to elaborate, and looking forward to the future for what patients
imagine in 10 years. Giving patients choices.
Utilizing open ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer that have
proven to encourage patients to openly talk, such as:-
What do you want to get out of your appointment today?
There are a number of things we can talk about today, what would you like to talk
about?
How would you feel having a quick chat about?
Despite asking open ended questions, as a clinician, how is it possible to quantify my
patients answers of their feelings? I felt as a clinician I was failing to utilize the patients
open ended responses to the maximum potential. The patient’s responses to their
feelings on oral health are so different, so how can an open ended question, requesting
feelings, be practically utilized to a definitive result? In an appointment scenario, if a
clinician is repeating what a patient has said through reflective open dialogue, what else
is being achieved? It is making it clear that the patients feelings are heard and
understood, aiming to increase the patient confidence through making them feel heard,
instilling their confidence in you as a trusted clinician through showing empathy and
listening. However, I still don’t feel the answer is being used to the maximum potential.
Which leads to my next questions:
 What else is being achieved towards their oral health through asking an open
ended question?

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 Am I as a clinician any closer to achieving the desired result of achieving better
oral health?
 Am I as a clinician effectively enhancing oral health promotion?
In reflection, yes I am contributing to building a trusted relationship as an oral health
provider with the patient. Yet, am I able to motivate, and sustain transformational
learning? Or am I limited to just building a trusted relationship?
(Helman 2006) appropriately summarizes “The art of medicine is a literary art. It
requires of the practitioner the ability to listen in a particular way, to empathize and also
to imagine: to try to feel what it must be like to be that other person lying in the sickbed,
or sitting across the desk from you; to understand the storyteller, as well as the story”. I
perceive this to be the exact challenge, one can only really read between the lines of
our closest and dearest friends and family members.
In further preparation to begin my action research project, I began asking a range of
dental health professional colleagues within the UAE, “What percentage of your patients
are 100% orally healthy?”. Zero% of participants responded confirming 100% of their
patients were orally healthy. This supported my area of concern that we as dental
health professional still need to refine our approach in the promotion of oral health. (See
Appendix 1, Questionnaire included, Question 3 applicable for the purpose of this
research).
Then further evaluating the reasons for why patients are not 100% orally healthy in

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group discussions amongst hygienists within Dubai in the UAE, lead to the consensus
that there are multiple reasons as to why patients are not 100% orally healthy. The
most significant reasons discussed ranged from, a lack of compliance with effective
sustainable oral hygiene, diet, and a lack of patient’s prioritization of their oral health.
This lead to my action research project’s further evolution. Why do patients not
prioritize the importance of their oral health? Why don’t patients follow the instructions
given them by the RDH for oral hygiene and maintenance visits? How could I impact
patient’s prioritization of oral health? What could I develop that could assist myself,
and other clinicians in impacting the patient’s prioritization of their oral health? I could
focus further on the delivery of oral hygiene instruction. I could focus further on
understanding my patients. I can continue to deliver the messages I have been
delivering until now, I can continue to search for communications strategies to
implement, or I can develop a communication toolkit intended to enhance oral health
status, that could be useful to myself and other clinicians utilizing enhanced
communication strategies. The communication toolkit could have the potential to aid in
patients’ attendance and compliance, to help improve their oral health. This would lead
to further fulfillment within my clinical practice. Leading to my final action research
question. If I developed a simplified communication toolkit, would hygienists find it
helpful to aid in the communication of oral health. Would this toolkit be welcomed by
the profession?
The intention of the simplified toolkit would be to aid clinicians in enhancing their
communication, to assist in increasing patient’s prioritization on oral health importance.

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The toolkit would focus ultimately on enhancing communication strategies utilized by
clinicians. In the long run, this toolkit could have the potential to impact oral health
status of patients through their increased prioritization of their oral health.
It is important to recognize there are specific individual challenges surrounding the
change process, dynamic for each person that remain unique to that individual.
Through much reading of research and publications, there is a generic complexity in
attempting to understand the change process. By applying a process of elimination it
may be possible to arrive closer to a tool kit that may aid in the facilitation of behavior
change. It is important to remember that this toolkit will have limitations. It is
undeniably subjective to the researcher’s interpretation of accessible content.
In further preparation to begin my action research project, I asked existing regular
attending patients, what makes them want to maintain their maintenance hygiene
appointments? This allowed me to identify elements to consider, that are likely to
influence new patients. The answers I received ranged from family connections, the
concerns of loosing teeth, starting to feel better, professionalism, dedication,
enthusiasm on my behalf, passion for my work, and because their mouth feels better.
An important point to consider is that people face difficulties when it comes to complying
with treatment recommendations and they do have to be ready to change. Frequently a
patient is not ready to change when the practitioner attempts to intervene. We need to
be able to “assess the patient’s readiness to adhere, provide advice on how to do it, and

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follow up on the patient’s progress at every contact”. “Adherence to long-term therapy
for chronic illnesses in developed countries averages 50%. In developing countries, the
rates are even lower” (WHO 2003).
Another point to consider is every person has the potential to change. It is important
throughout the process to be realistic; avoid loosing sight of the process of individual
change, as it will only occur when the person is ready to change. Conventional modes
of giving advice to bring forth change, common to dental hygiene practice, and in my
personal education, have been known to make a person feel pressured to accept a
certain view or attitude, disabling their freedom to make a choice, resulting in the exact
opposite from the intended being achieved. The psychological theory of reactance
supports this. (Brehm 1966 and 1981).
There appears to be a current weakness in the depth and clarity of our existing
communication strategies, how can this be improved whilst optimizing on the available
appointment time.
Methodology
Phase 1
Twenty patient were asked a single open ended question during their regular dental hygiene
appointments:
 On a scale of 1-10 how important is your oral health to you?

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Subjects included new and existing hygiene patients within my practice in the UAE. They were
from multiple cultural backgrounds and varied in age from 15 to 56. The results were then
documented by hand writing in a book.
Since I was only starting to explore further communication strategies to include within
my general hygiene practice, I did not include a consent form for patients to sign at this
early stage, as I did not intend to use my data from these patients for my action
research project. In support of not having obtained consent I have not divulged any
personal information on these patients.
Phase 2
I developed some questions in figure 1, in a survey monkey, to identify how hygienists felt
about the current oral health of their patients, the actual status of the patients oral health, and if
hygienists would be open to using a simplified communication tool kit if one was available.
Figure 1

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On identifying the ease of asking the style of question stated in phase 1, and collating the
answers, I began to see the potential value of open ended questions, that gave patients the
opportunity to score how they felt.
To develop the questions intended for the simplified communication toolkit section of the
survey, I began by reviewing the book “Health Behavior Change in the Dental Practice”
in great depth. Being reflective on the relevance of certain behavior change models,
and being conscious of the limited extent of my bachelors. I chose to focus on

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developing 4 questions that required an answer that was a scored numbered. Based on
the style of question featured in phase 1, outlined in figure 2.
Question 1
 On a scale of 1-10 how open are you to wanting to enhance your oral
health? (score1 not very open, 10 very open)
I have already identified readiness for change is an important consideration, and people can
be at different stages. This question intends to identify a patients’ readiness to engage and
participate in their oral health. (Rollick et al 1999)
Question 2
 On a scale of 1-10 how much do you want your mouth to remain to be optimally
clean and healthy? (score 1 not very much, 10 very much).
This is leaving the patient the freedom and ownership over what they want, leaving the
clinician the opportunity to interpret the score.
(Brehm 1966; Brehm and Brehm 1981)
Question 3
• On a scale of 1-10 do you see many benefits, if your mouth was maintained to
be optimally clean and healthy? (score 1 not many, score 10 many).
Motivational Interviewing (MI) has proven to be efficient in behavioral change (Burke et
al. 2003, 2004; Hettema et al. 2005; Rubak et al. 2005). By incorporating a motivational
interviewing style into the questions, would allow the clinician to identify the patient’s
awareness of the benefits of oral health. Allowing the clinician to better gage the
patient’s extent of oral health awareness.

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Question 4
• On a scale of 1-10, how strongly do you feel about returning for your dental
hygiene appointment? (score 1 not bothered, 10 feel strongly).
Ambivalence “Most people will experience a certain amount of ambivalence through the
process of change” (Rollick et al. 2007; Ryan and Deci 2000).
I did not include the below question in my survey monkey however it would be possible to
consider using this in the future –
 If your score is closer to 10 can you explain why?
Question 6 & 7 in figure 2, were finally included in the survey monkey to understand if the
questions in question 5 could be of value to the hygienists.
Figure 2

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I emailed the survey monkey to 18 dental hygienists based in the UAE, US, UK, and Canada
to complete. The criteria of subjects included in the survey process were practicing dental
hygienists of varying years of working experience.
On circulating the survey I was then notified by survey monkey when the survey had been
completed and reviewed the data.

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I did not include consent forms as the survey was shared amongst colleague dental
hygienists, and a consent form is not required for this purpose.
I then requested a few hygienists implemented question 5, and reported back to me on
the below questions.
 Was it easy, and time efficient to ask these questions?
 Did you find the patients reflected more on their oral health, when asked these
questions? If yes, why do you think they did?
 Do you think these questions could help patients engage more, in the long term
of maintaining optimal oral health?
 Where patients happy to answer these questions?
 Did you document these answers in their notes, or would it be easy to in the
future?
 Would you find it helpful to use these questions, or style of questions again?
 Would you find it helpful re-document the answer at appointment intervals to
monitor the patients’ perception on their oral health?
 Would you use these questions again?
 Would you be interested in using this style of question more to support oral
health promotion?
 What were your overall thoughts in incorporating these questions into your
practice? (i.e. what could be the benefits, and why, what could be the limitations
and why?)

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Results
Phase 1 Results
Based on the question -
 On a scale of 1-10 how important is your oral health to you?
The results are featured in figure 3.
Figure 3
The answer for all 20 patients from figure 3 scored 10.
This question seemed to be a striking question to ask, that was simple and easy to incorporate
into a hygiene appointment. It enabled patients to reflect on themselves internally, and how
they really feel about oral health. By doing this surprisingly every patient’s response was that
their oral health was very important to them. Surprisingly these results would however differ
from my early research that clinicians do not consider their patients are orally healthy. This
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
OralHealth ImportanceScale1- 10
Patients

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would indicate a variable between how important patients may view their oral health when
asked within a clinical setting, compared to what they continue to do at home to care for their
oral health. If patients view their oral health as being important when asked in a clinical
setting, what more can we do to enhance this belief into effective behavioral change,
reminding patients of their own personal thoughts on how important their own oral health is.
This question could also indicate to a clinician how likely the patient may adhere to long term
therapy (WHO 2003).
By requesting the patient to personally reflect on the importance of their oral
health, evaluating their reflection and translating this into a number, the patient
and the clinician are able to quantify the feelings and score the feelings. This could
lead to less risk of misinterpretation of patient’s feelings. The clinician is able to
reflect on the number, restating the number supporting that the clinician is listening and
reflecting back on what the patient has expressed clearly in a shorter amount of time. The
number can be documented in the clinical notes and reflected on, and recorded for
comparisons from one appointment to the next. A shorter amount of time is needed to extract
valuable information that can ultimately be utilized with ease, from one clinician to the next.
I initially asked this question in the appointment time, however it could be appropriate to ask
this question in the waiting room, or prior to an appointment, via whatsapp, text, Facebook,
email, phone call, before the appointment and then at the end of the appointment, and a few
days later. These are areas for further research.

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Other questions requiring a scored answer could evolve from phase 2 question, not loosing
sight that this toolkit is deemed to ensure the results are used to their maximum potential to
have an optimal impact on oral health.
Aside from asking the questions outlined in figure 2, it is important to remember creating a
good rapport is key, according to (Najavits et al. 2000) this “correlates with the patient behavior
change outcomes”.
Throughout the whole consultation creating an environment of understanding and respect is
very important, and remembering to use appropriate non verbal body language such as smiling
to welcome the patient and listening to the patient for the patients’ autonomy is necessary. All
the numbers scored would allow an opportunity of reflection and to expand upon the score in
conversation. This would lead to the patient feeling understood and giving the patient an
opportunity to clarify what they mean, drawing personal meaning from the questions. “The
more information is evaluated and applied by the recipient of it, the more likely it is that such
information will be taken on board” (Wilding and Valentine 1997). Always making the patient
feel understood adding to their existing knowledge and summaries the findings of the
questionnaire.
Phase 2 Results
Figure 4

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Nearly 80% or clinicians in figure 4 appear to be frustrated that their patients frequently return
with reformation of plaque, indicating there is still room for improvement in the delivery of oral
health promotion. The frustration could be impacting overall work and happiness within the
work environment, and potentially overall productivity. Any negativity is not conducive to
optimization, and requires a solution to overcome it, certainly supporting the need to further
develop strategies.

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Figure 5
Scattered results in figure 5 support my initial background research for my action
research project featured in appendix 1 that 0% of dental professionals believe their
patients achieve perfect oral health. Indicating there is a need for further developments

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within the dental profession to obtain improved oral health statuses amongst patients.
Figure 6
100% of the hygienists included in the survey, support the view that if a simplified
communication toolkit was available to use in the communication of oral health they
would be very open to use it. This indicates hygienists are not aware of a simplified
communication toolkit available specifically intended for the communication of oral
health, or that could be adapted for the use of communication of oral health. These
answers would also support the need for further research in this area, leading to further

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publications, courses and qualifications in support of the findings. The results could
also indicate a need for the re-evaluation of existing dental hygiene curriculums to
incorporate a more comprehensive module on communication into the syllabus, this
syllabus could also include the study of psychology.
Figure 7
100% of the hygienists included in figure 7, support the belief that they are frequently
repeating themselves, following a similar structure from one appointment to the next. If
patients were achieving optimum oral health, clinicians were not frustrated, and

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clinicians were not very open to a communication toolkit the answer to this question
may not be so significant. Since this is not the case I can identify that we need to
review the current format of appointments.
Figure 8

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Scattered results indicating that hygienists would be open to use the questions proposed in the
methodology on their patients, shows an open willingness to explore new strategies and
changing their existing practice to incorporate these questions into their appointments. Since I
wanted to develop a simplified survey that would be easy for clinicians to complete, I did not
include the supporting evidence of the basis of these questions in the survey. The strength of
these results is based on little background information and hygienists are still open to use
these questions. These results may vary if the supporting evidence behind these questions
was presented. The work of (Bandura 1977) indicates “self-efficacy beliefs reflect an internal
awareness that one is able to perform a specific task. Without an internal belief that one is
able to make a change, change is unlikely to happen”. The questions featured in figure 8 do
all allow the patients to become internally more aware, that could support change, “the beliefs
that people have about themselves are central to the choices they make in shaping their lives”.

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Figure 9
The results of 83.33% of patients in figure 9 think the questions in figure 8 could be
helpful, aiding in the communication of oral health. This is based to hygienists limited
information of the supporting evidence, surrounding the background of the questions
included in figure 8.

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Figure 10
The results of 77.78% of patients in figure 10 think that reviewing the questions in figure
8 at appointment intervals, could be helpful in monitoring the patients’ status, on the
perception of their oral health. This is based to hygienists limited information of the
supporting evidence, surrounding the background of the questions included in figure 8.
1 Hygienist in the UAE utilized the question in figure 8 and returned the below feedback.

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 Was it easy, and time efficient to ask these questions?
Definitely.
 Did you find the patients reflected more on their oral health, when asked these
questions? If yes, why do you think they did?
Yes, I think they feel they are given a platform to open up.
 Do you think these questions could help patients engage more in the long term of
maintaining optimal oral health?
Depending on the patient I think so. They all seemed keen.
 Where patients happy to answer these questions?
Older patients, because I think they had less anxiety about the actual cleaning
than the new patients, so they seemed more at ease.
 Did you document these answers in their notes, or would it be easy to in the
future?
It is easy to document and I did on the patient file.
 Would you find it helpful to use these questions, or style of questions again?
It is very helpful and in fairness I already give the patients an opportunity to
communicate with me and I do ask a lot of questions. I just tailor the questions to
each individual patient. I would maybe include the numerical scoring system. I
have a more emotional system.
 Would you find it helpful re-document the answer at appointment intervals to
monitor the patients’ perception on their oral health?
Of course for monitoring.

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 Would you use these questions again?
Yes, but obviously not verbatim unless we make a paper questionnaire.
 Would you be interested in using this style of question more to support oral
health promotion?
Yes, but I would limit it to 3 questions max.
 What were your overall thoughts in incorporating these questions into your
practice? (i.e. what could be the benefits, and why, what could be the limitations
and why?)
I do see the importance of communicating with patients so we can move into the
future with a better understanding of the psyche of the patient, so we can aim to
be more appealing from a health point of view. Perhaps a
structured questionnaire is good because the patient may
not feel pressurized to give the perfect answer. I think the only limitations are the
patients themselves. I was lucky this week, but I have had experiences
where patients do not want to chit chat about anything.
Limitations of Results, and Ideas for future research
Optimizing on time is important and the style of question included in figure 8, is sensitive to
time constraints. The survey monkey questions I have begun to develop in figure 8 intended
for a toolkit, could be used in a communication toolkit, however these are only the preliminary
steps as it is a vast topic to address all at once. Further development opportunities should be
considered to expand on the existing questions to develop a further cascade of questions that
could be followed to develop an extensive oral health communication toolkit.

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I have not explored when the most effective time to implement certain questions in
figure 8 could be, and this should be explored further to reach a highly effective oral
health communication toolkit that could be adapted to all scenarios. The questions
asked in figure 8 could be developed further, ensuring an analysis of further
communications strategies are analyzed and included.
Aside from asking patients the questions outlined in figure 8, it is important to remember
creating a good rapport is key, according to (Najavits et al. 2000) this “correlates with
the patient behavior change outcomes”. It is relevant to realize the chosen mode of the
conversation or advice can significantly affect behavior outcomes. Empathizing as a
clinician plays a key role in the communication, as well as being flexible in the
approached communication style.
“The more information is evaluated and applied by the recipient of it, the more likely it is that
such information will be taken on board” (Wilding and Valentine 1997).
Further research is required surrounding the question targeting the hygienists, to
support the re-evaluation of dental hygiene curriculums:-
These questions could include –
 What year did you graduate?
 Where did you study?
 Did your curriculum include a module on behavioral science and communication
on oral health?

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 If a module was included on communication of oral health within your curriculum,
do you feel it was in depth enough to support the delivery of the communication
of oral health in your daily practice?
Business Aspect
Regardless of geographical location, a clinician’s ambition to achieve their full potential
is of great importance. Searching for new ways to overcome existing interferences is
key to the success of reaching the full potential within a business. A clinician skilled
enough to help patients understand an obstacle, will be better equipped to help the
patient overcome the obstacle, moving forward to achieve improved oral health
outcomes, happier patients, job satisfaction and enhanced business outcomes for the
future.
How would my finding help a practice make money?
Happier patients achieving better oral health outcomes are more likely to speak about
their positive outcomes and this in turn would lead to more referrals and more patients.
Minus frustration a dental hygienist is more likely to be an enthusiastic employee who
would possibly feel more motivated to achieve even more resulting in greater
profitability.
Conclusion
Returning to my initial action research question:-
the communications on oral health? Would this toolkit be welcomed by the profession?

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From summarizing the results, it would appear evident that a simplified communication toolkit
would be welcomed by the dental hygiene profession. Dental hygienists confirmed they do get
frustrated when patients return with reformation of plaque. Hygienists are not achieving
optimal oral health with their patients through their existing communication strategies, so there
is room to improve on current methodologies.
Hygienists would be very open to using a simplified communication toolkit if one was available.
It seems apparent hygienists would use the questions I developed on their patients. The
hygienist that did implement question 5, provided promising feedback. The answers from the
question outlined in figure 8 could be easily documented and re-documented, in the clinical
notes, allowing comparisons from one appointment to the next. All the numbers scored would
allow an opportunity of reflection and to expand upon the score in conversation.
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Word Count - 5372

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Appendices
Appendix 1
Your participation in the below survey is greatly appreciated and your identity will appear
anonymous. All data collated is intended to purely reflect the honest opinion of professionals
working within Dentistry in the UAE, to advance the Oral Health Care & Wellbeing for the
public.
Designation – __Hygienist_ __________________
Scale -
1 - unaware / low priority
10 - very aware / high priority
1. What percentage of the Dental Hygienists full skill set is being implemented?
i. ____________%
2. How aware are dentists within the UAE of the role of the dental hygienists?
i. Please highlight - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ii. How proactive are the dentists in integrating Hygienists into their practice
model?
Please highlight - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
iii. Is oral health a priority amongst the public?
iv. Is oral - systemic health a priority amongst the profession?

37
v. Is oral - systemic health a priority amongst the public?
3. What percentage of your patients are orally healthy (For Dental Clinicians)
_____________%
Thank you for your time.
Regards Victoria Wilson
Appendix 2
Have you ever felt frustrated that your patients continue to present with reformation of
plaque?
Never
Frequently
Occasionally
What percentage of your patients achieve perfect oral health? (i.e 0% plaque & 0%
Bleeding on probing)
70% - 100%
50% - 70%
30% - 50%
1% - 30%
0%
Do you frequently feel you are repeating yourself to your patients, following a similar
structure, from one appointment to the next?
Yes

38
No
If there was a simplified communication toolkit available for Hygienists, intended to aid
in promoting oral health for your patients, would you be open to use it in
the communication of oral health.
Very Open
Not very open
Mark the squares below, if you would consider using the question on your patients.
On a scale of 1 -10 how important is your oral health to you? (score 1 low importance,
10 high importance)
On a scale of 1-10 how open are you to wanting to enhance your oral health? (score1
not very open, 10 very open)
On a scale of 1-10 how much do you want your mouth to remain to be optimally clean
and healthy? (score 1 not very much, 10 very much)
On a scale of 1-10 do you see many benefits, if your mouth was maintained to
be optimally clean and healthy? (score 1 not many, score 10 many)
On a scale of 1-10, how strongly do you feel about returning for your dental hygiene
appointment? (score 1 not bothered, 10 feel strongly)
Do you think the questions in question 5 could be helpful to aid in the communications
of oral health?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you think reviewing the questions, in question 5 at appointment intervals could be

39
helpful in monitoring your patients’ status, on their perception of their oral health?
Yes
Maybe
No

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