5.2.2 - Dental Hygiene Patient Management

The Patient Services Coordinator (PSC) is responsible for running and maintaining the dental hygiene recall program. The PSC schedules recall patient appointments to available hygiene students' schedules.

All assigned dental hygiene patients (new patients or recall) will remain in the care of the assigned dental hygiene student until transferred to another student or released from the program.  The new patient assignment type DH to Comprehensive Care, requires the PSC to notify the Director of Comprehensive Care once the dental hygiene treatment has been completed for assignment to a dental student.

 A.    DH - Patients whose first experience in the College of Dentistry is in the Dental Hygiene student clinic. These patients will have a dental examination in conjunction with their first round of dental hygiene treatment. They are required to have an exam every 13 months with subsequent dental hygiene treatment. Upon examination, there are 3 possible outcomes:

         1.) No treatment is needed.
         2.) Limited treatment is needed.
         3.) Comprehensive care is needed.

 If limited treatment is needed, the examining dentist will complete a limited treatment form, which will be sent to the Quality Assurance Coordinator. If comprehensive care is needed, (4 or more procedures and comprehensive treatment planning) the examining dentist will send a limited treatment form to the Quality Assurance Coordinator that states full assignment is needed.

 B.     Recall – Patients who have completed their restorative treatment at the College of Dentistry and have been placed on recall or are in the Dental Hygiene Only recall system.

 C.     Comprehensive Care Clinic – Fourth-year dental students assigned to comprehensive care clinics will coordinate the periodontal recall needs of a limited number of their assigned patients with the GPD and the PSCs, for the DH collaboration. The patient is then assigned to a vertical team second-year dental hygiene student for periodontal treatment. The DH and DS student collaborate on the patient’s appointment needs and necessary radiographs.

 D.      Dental Students - Dental students may be seen as patients up to two times per semester. They may only be scheduled to fill in a last-minute cancellation or no-show unless the student has a dental emergency. Dental students may not be scheduled in advance and will not be added to your patient family.  Please see your clinical instructor if you have a no-show or last-minute cancellation and need a last-minute appointment with a dental student.

The DH Patient Services Coordinator (PSC) is responsible for scheduling dental hygiene appointments for their patients.  The PSC, in the clinic in which the patient is seen for treatment, will collect payment for services rendered and schedule subsequent appointments.

Should the patient call the student to reschedule an appointment, it will be managed by the student and communicated to the DH PSC. If a patient has already had two rescheduled appointments, the PSC will determine whether to send the patient a pending release letter or a release letter regarding scheduling difficulties.

Students, along with the PSC, should utilize their patient list to fill appointments that other patients have canceled.

The student is responsible for managing the need for antibiotic pre-medication for their patients. This will not be managed by the Patient Services Coordinator (PSC).

Dental Hygiene Students:

Family members and friends may be seen as personal patients. Contact Dental Hygiene PSC (via amail) to have a personal patient registered into axiUm.  Include the:

• Patient’s name
• Date of birth
• Address
• Email
• Best daytime contact number

Be sure to make it clear that you are a dental hygiene student by placing “DH1” or “DH2” after your name at the end of the message. The subject line should say “DH Personal Patient Request”. Personal patients should be utilized to fill open appointment times or cancellations.

If it is determined that a patient needs to be seen for urgent care (between appointments), the patient should be instructed to contact the DH Patient Services Coordinator.  The PSC will review the case and consult with the Director of Patient Relations on the best course of action for managing the patient’s dental situation. If a limited treatment assignment is deemed necessary, the Director of Patient Relations will complete a limited treatment form for dental student assignments. If a dentist has examined the area of dental concern, he/she should complete a limited treatment form and send it to the Quality Assurance Coordinator, via the axiUm “running man”, instead of having the patient contact the Communications Center.

During non-business hours, patients should be instructed to call 405-271-7744, where they will receive a recorded message with a phone number to contact the AEGD resident who is on call.