The aim of this study was to review the history of dental hygiene education in Korea on its 50th anniversary in 2015. Internal resources and documents from the Korean Dental Hygienists'Association and other accessible resources were examined to verify the historical facts of dental hygiene education in Korea. From 1965 to 1967, the first class of four dental hygiene students graduated, and the legal basis for dental hygiene as a profession was established, which led to the start of the profession Registered Dental Hygienist in 1971. From 1977 to 1993, 13 higher educational institutions started dental hygiene programs. The Korean Dental Hygienists' Association (1977) and Korean Association of Dental Hygiene College Professors (1987) were established in this period. From 1994 to 2006, the duration of major-intensive course programs in dental hygiene was extended to three from the two years of 1994, and the first bachelor's degree program in dental hygiene started in 2002. In this period, studies on dental hygiene became significantly active owing to vigorous activities by academic societies. The master's degree program in dental hygiene was established in 2007. Academic dental hygiene journals, the Journal of Dental Hygiene Science, and Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Hygiene Education were promoted as the registered journals of the Korean Research Foundation. From 1965 to 2015, dental hygiene education in South Korea expanded both quantitatively and qualitatively and is now ready for further progress in the future.

Objectives: This literature review seeks to identify the current status of the liberal arts education of dental hygiene majors offered by universities in Korea and the U.S. and provide a comparative analysis of the data on liberal arts education in both countries. Methods: From April 3, 2017 to May 1, 2017, research data on curriculum topics were collected from 60 selected universities. The data were collected from university websites, which also provided the universities' emails and dental hygiene major descriptions. We calculated the descriptive statistics of the variables and performed independent t-tests on the data. Results: In all the domains of the NCS and K-CESA, the dental hygiene major currently offers courses on language and communication and general education, focusing on self-management and development. Few universities offer subjects from other disciplines. Conclusions: Pro-actively exploring strategies is a prerequisite to the systematic operation of standardized dental hygiene education. It is imperative to conduct research consistently on relevant topics, such as teaching methods, general education standards, and connectivity between major subjects and the goals and effects of exposure to a general education.

Objectives: This study surveyed the application of Comprehensive Dental Hygiene Care (CDHC), based on non-surgical periodontal therapy within the educational curricula of Korean universities and examined whether they recognized the need for CDHC. Methods: This study analyzed data from professors of dental hygiene practicum related subjects in 75 Korean universities. The collected data were analyzed using a Chi-square test, a Mann-Whitney U-test, and a Kruskal Wallis test via SPSS (Ver. 21.0). Results: First, the application scope of CDHC was higher in four-year universities than three-year ones with the scope of several characteristics increasing along with enrollment quota. The application scope of dental hygiene plans and actions increased with the number of patient practices in terms of periodontal evaluations. Second, the needs of the dental hygiene courses were more than 4 points in all characteristics. Although four-year universities exhibited higher points than three-year ones, there was no significant difference found except other test. Finally, all universities based their dental hygiene courses on case histories, oral and maxillofacial information, hard tissue modules, periodontal issues, and other tests, with needs also being high. Meanwhile, the application scope of the dental hygiene course evaluations was lowest in all characteristics. Conclusions: There were no significant differences in dental hygiene curricula among the universities. However, highly qualified and standardized educational courses and lectures should be developed by the Korean evaluation center for dental hygiene curricula using various studies as the basis of theory and practical classes, the total number of terms, number of case studies used, number of students per class, ratio of students to professor, and so on.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to analyze the association between indirect vision skills and neck, shoulder, and back pain in dental hygienists. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 85 dental hygienists working full-time at dental clinics. A survey was performed for musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck, shoulders, and back of the subjects. The O'Connor tweezer dexterity test was performed using a mirror to evaluate their indirect vision skills. For statistical analyses, the t-test and one-way analysis of variance were performed. Results: The neck was the most common region of musculoskeletal pain (89.4%). The most intense pain was experienced in the neck (70.6%) and right shoulder (60.0%). Neck pain (20.0%) caused the most interference with clinical practice. Indirect vision skills were lower in the group with severe pain in the left shoulder or with high interference in work due to the left shoulder pain (p=0.026 and p= 0.017, respectively) or right shoulder pain (p=0.004) . Conclusions: In this study, neck pain was a major musculoskeletal symptom among dental hygienists, and poor indirect vision skills were associated with the development of shoulder pain. Therefore, to prevent such musculoskeletal symptoms, dental hygienists should become proficient in indirect visualization, which enables a balanced and neutral posture.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of dental hospital accreditation and the awareness and practice of infection control in dental hygienists. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 238 dental hygienists working at dental hospitals in Gwangju·Jeonnam and analyzed from October 24, 2016 to September 22, 2017. Data were analyzed with the independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software, version 21.0. Results: Compared to non-accredited dental hospitals, all three variables were high for accredited dental hospitals. In accredited dental hospitals, healthcare accreditation expectancy effects correlated to awareness (r=0.407) and practice (r=0.533) of infection control, and awareness of infection control correlated to its practice (r=0.725). In non-accredited dental hospitals, healthcare accreditation expectancy effects correlated to awareness of infection control (r=0.239), and awareness of infection control correlated to its practice (r=0.481). Accredited dental hospitals showed healthcare accreditation expectancy effects (β=0.258) and awareness of infection control (β=0.556), and non-accredited dental hospitals were influenced by the number of employees (β=0.567) and awareness of infection control (β=0.376). Conclusions: It is necessary to develop efficient and systematic infection control programs to improve the awareness and practice of infection control in dental hygienists and patient's safety in the clinical field.

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between depression and number of present teeth in Korean elderly individuals. Methods: Data for this cross-sectional survey was obtained from the records of the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The subjects were 1,199 Korean elderly individuals above 65 years of age. The survey and examination data were used for the independent variables. The KNHANES included health status, nutrition survey, and oral examination. x2-test was performed to identify the characteristics of depression and number of teeth present according to the characteristics of the study subjects. Logistic regression analysis was also performed to identify the relationship between depression and number of teeth present. The statistical significance level wa sset at 0.05. Results: The prevalence of depression in the subjects was 14.8%. There were statistically significant differences in the prevalence of depression, depending on gender (p<0.001), education level (p=0.001), income (p=0.001), spouse status (p<0.001), and alcohol consumption (p=0.020). The association between depression and the number of teeth present showed statistically significant difference after adjustment (p=0.040). Conclusions: Depression in elderly individuals was closely related to the number of teeth present. Therefore, public health policies for improving oral health should be established to prevent depression.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the relationships of oral and systemic health-related characteristics with health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) in the elderly, and factors related to quality of life were compared according to age subgroups classified as either younger (young-old) or older (old-old) than 75 years of age. Methods: Data acquired by the Sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(KNHANES) from 2013 to 2015 were used, and the research target was 3,124 people aged 65 years or older. A complex samples general linear model was used to identify health-related quality of life factors. Results: Education, economic activity, depression, stress, regular walking, self-rated oral health, pronunciation problems, and unmet dental care had significant effects on quality of life in both young-old and old-old participants. Marriage, income, number of systemic diseases, sleeping, and chewing inconveniences were significant factors for the young-old but not in the old-old participants. Instead, obesity and drinking were identified as significant factors in the old-old participants. Conclusions: We reaffirmed that factors affecting health-related quality of life in older adults differed by age group. We also confirmed the impact of oral health-related characteristics on this quality. Therefore, to improve quality of life for older adults, it would be efficient to divide groups by age and develop and implement programs that take relevant factors into consideration.

Objectives: This study aimed to validate the moderating effect of oral health on the relationship between perceived health status and health-related quality of life in the elderly and to use this information as primary data to suggest oral health policies for the aged society. Methods: This study included 3,707 subjects aged over 65 years who answered all the variables used in the study model and completed the health questionnaire and screening survey based on the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Baron & Kenny's linear regression analysis using SPSS 22.0 and SPSS Macro Version 3.1 programs was performed to confirm the moderating effect of the number of remaining natural teeth, chewing difficulty, and cardiovascular disease on the relationship between perceived health status and health-related quality of life in the elderly. Results: The number of remaining natural teeth, chewing difficulties, and cardiovascular diseases affected the perceived health status of the elderly. As the number of remaining natural teeth increased, the effect of perceived health status on the quality of life in the elderly was buffered. The effect of perceived health status on the quality of life increased with chewing difficulties and the number of cardiovascular diseases. In particular, it was confirmed that chewing difficulties, rather than the number of cardiovascular diseases. had a greater effect on the quality of life in the elderly. Conclusions: Oral health policies and projects are required to ensure oral rehabilitation with dentures and implants and restore chewing function to improve the quality of life of the elderly in Korea.

Objectives: To analyze the association between sleep duration and the number of remaining teeth in people aged 65 years or older in order to provide basic data for improving sleep quality and developing oral health programs for teeth maintenance. Methods: The raw data for the analysis were obtained from the sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) dataset, conducted between 2013 and 2015. The 4,340 subjects included in the study underwent oral examinations and then proceeded to answer related questions. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (ver 23.0) program via composite samples, with the calculations for mean, standard deviation, chi-square test, and logistic return analysis being performed. Results: An analysis of the effect of sleep duration on the number of remaining teeth among people aged >65 years old showed that if the confounding variables were not corrected for, the risk of having less than 9 hours of sleep was 1.40 times higher (95% CI: 1.06-1.86). However, this was not statistically significant in models that corrected for gender, age, and other confounding variables (p>0.05). Conclusions: The association between sleep duration among the elderly with their number of remaining teeth was confirmed. Therefore, measures to improve sleep quality and oral care practices to maintain the remaining teeth in people over 65 years old should be developed.

Objectives: Grip strength is a measure for assessing overall muscle strength, muscle mass, and nutritional status, and is a useful tool for early examination of a person's general health. Thus, this study analyzed the association between oral health-related factors and grip strength, using the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data. Methods: Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA) software with a complex sampling analysis of stratified and clustered variables, all with weighted values, applied for every analysis conducted. From the 6th KNHANES data, a total of 26,101 people were selected as the study population. A complex sample generalized linear model analysis was performed for participants' sociodemographic characteristics, health status, use of oral care products, and factors such as adult mastication and speaking habits. Results: Grip strength was found to be higher among men compared to women. Grip strength was the highest in the 20-39 year old group. Furthermore, grip strength was statistically significantly higher among married and employed individuals, and in the right hand (p<0.001). Grip strength was statistically significantly higher among people who perceived themselves to have good health and among those who did not have health-related problems in the past two weeks (p<0.001). It was also higher among those who used interdental brushes and electronic toothbrushes (p<0.001), but decreased with greater discomfort in mastication and speaking among adults (p<0.05). Conclusions: Grip strength was found to be associated with oral health-related factors and therefore, these could be helpful tools in evaluating both general and subjective health statuses. In general, oral care products are small in size with oral care involving the use of hands and certain precise motions and actions to remove foreign substances in the oral cavity. As shown in the findings, grip strength declines with increased age and as a result, the use of oral care products should be strongly recommended in order to promote better general health.