Benjamin Tighe highlights the potential of dental hygienists and dental therapists to identify, prevent and co-manage systemic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
It is time to retire the notion that dental hygienists and therapists are the ‘cleaning professionals’ of the dental team. The evidence no longer supports such a limited view. Across a growing body of UK and international research, it is increasingly clear that these clinicians occupy a pivotal position in the identification and co-management of some of the most prevalent systemic conditions in Britain. Yet in too many practices – and in too many commissioning decisions – this potential goes unrealised.
