As a clinician, prevention is an important part of the dental hygiene scope of practice.

Educating our patients and the public is one of the most important aspects of dental hygiene.
Without education, especially oral hygiene education, we cannot appropriately prevent oral
disease. As hygienists, we need to understand that each patient is different and has different
preventive needs. After education, preventive services such as sealants and fluoride treatments
are the most important and helpful to our patients. It is important have the knowledge to
education patients on oral hygiene and to apply preventive measures such as sealants and
fluoride.
The evidence I have included in my portfolio adequately demonstrates my capability of
providing preventive services to the patient population. There are many aspects of preventive
services. I included an oral hygiene instruction proficiency at 90%. I needed to remember to ask
the patient to demonstrate their method of brushing and flossing before showing them how I
wanted it to be done at home. In order to prevent a problem or disease, we must first be able to
understand it. This is why I included my preventive dentistry research paper. It focused on the
definition of bacterial plaque and the role it plays in causing caries, calculus, gingivitis and
periodontal disease. I have also included a journal article review on calcium phosphate
technologies. These new technologies will help the remineralization process, especially for those
who have increased caries risk or decreased salivary flow. Finally, I chose to include a daily
grade sheet from clinic at a 96%. This grade sheet reflected a patient I completed an oral hygiene
instruction proficiency on.
Prevention is crucial in the dental hygiene profession. While job security is important,
preventing disease for our patients is even more important and something that needs to be
focused on at every appointment.