Dental Hygiene Process of Care
A structured, six-step clinical and educational framework guiding dental hygiene practice from assessment through evaluation, analogous to the nursing process.
Full Definition
The Dental Hygiene Process of Care is a systematic, patient-centred framework comprising six sequential phases: assessment, dental hygiene diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation, and documentation. It was formalised by the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) to standardise the profession's approach to patient care and to distinguish dental hygiene as an autonomous discipline. Each phase generates distinct documentation — from health history forms and perio charts (assessment) to treatment plans (planning) and progress notes (evaluation). Editors working on dental hygiene textbooks, competency frameworks, or accreditation documents must render each phase with its correct label and sequence, and must not truncate the process to the traditional four-step nursing process model.
Usage
Usage note: Capitalise all six phase names when listed formally. Do not reduce to 'assessment, treatment, and evaluation'; the full six-phase model is required in accreditation and curricular contexts.
In Context
- "Students were required to document all six phases of the Dental Hygiene Process of Care for each patient encounter in their clinical portfolio." — Dental hygiene programme competency document
- "The textbook chapter described only four steps; update to the six-phase Dental Hygiene Process of Care as defined by the ADHA." — Textbook revision editing note