The Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner at the Master's-Degree Level: Is It Necessary?(Critical Issues in Dental Hygiene Critical‪)‬

Introduction Achieving oral health for all, especially for those with the highest disease levels, is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation. (1,2) Almost a decade ago, the U.S. Surgeon General (1) and Oral Health America, (3,4) a national advocacy group, released a national report card on our nation's oral health. Unfortunately, reports reveal that we are underachievers in access to care, cultural diversification, oral disease prevention, the policies that we promote, and the infrastructure that we have created. (1) These conditions have placed additional demands on the practice of dentistry and dental hygiene. The mediocre rating (a "C" grade) in oral health care can be improved if we build on the successes and potential of the dental hygienist as proposed by the American Dental Hygienists' Association in the Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (ADHP). (5) An ADHP is "a dental hygienist who has graduated from an accredited dental hygiene program and has completed an advanced educational curriculum, approved by the American Dental Hygienists' Association, which prepares the dental hygienist to provide diagnostic, preventive, restorative and therapeutic services directly to the public." (5) Establishing the ADHP curriculum at the master's degree level requires transformational change in dental hygiene education and practice.