General Statement Deutscher Diplom Dentalhygienikerin Verband e.V. (DDHV)
In Germany, a legal, state-recognized dental hygiene program does not exist.
Some very basic prophylaxis lessons are included in the less than three-year-long dental assistant apprenticeship program. After completing this apprenticeship and one year of work experience, a further qualification course to become a „prophylaxis assistant“ is offered. This course entails approximately 300-400 hours of the candidate mostly teaching themselves how to treat patients in on-the-job training* – there is no instructor present. There is absolutely no training on patients in a clinic setting as is fundamentally required to become an internationally recognized dental hygienist.
Following another 600-800 hours of this solitary on-the-job training they receive a Letter of Attendance and diminishes qualified dental hygienists.
Everyone here, including dental assistant trainees, works in the field of dental hygiene. These trainees sometimes even perform periodontological root-planning because the profession is not protected.
Nevertheless, patients are being charged the same amount of money for this very unprofessional treatment as if a Registered Dental Hygienist had performed the work. This highly unethical, dangerous practice is widespread. It is dishonest, compromises the patient’s care, and dilutes the respect for this profession.
It is desirable and admissible by the German Dental Association to simply refuse to acknowledge a separate dental hygiene profession. Despite this, some dental practices consist of one dentist and a large team of so-called dental hygienists who sell „professional“ cleanings and bleaching. Because they are not well-educated, their salaries are low, and the profit for the dentist is enormous.
Accomplishments
There are at present three „private universities“ without clinics(!) offering a type of „Bachelor’s Degree in Dental Hygiene“.
Although it may sound like a step forward, they completely lack the universal standards for dental hygienists. Qualified educators are non-existent in these programs. These are strictly continuation programs in a professional capacity and not academic. The clinical portion consists of approximately 20% of that of a Registered Dental Hygiene program, and again, this is mostly on-the-job-training*. What is very crucial to consider here is that a Registered Dental Hygienist’s work takes place at least 80% of the time in the oral cavity, just as a dentist’s does. Dentists have not been trained on-the-job* either.
Our daily work clearly demonstrates that a better system is needed. This way, patients will pay a justifiable price for quality, professional treatment.
As one periodontal expert (Professor U.P. Saxer, Zurich) has stated: poorly trained and poorly paid dental hygienists can worsen the periodontal condition – you get what you pay for.
However, there is a new development
For more than four decades, the DDHV has been searching for a way to establish an internationally qualified dental hygiene program in Germany. We are close to reaching this goal. We hope to achieve what we are striving for:
An academic bachelor program at a private university with direct clinical training, using licensed Registered Dental Hygienists as instructors. An initiator will first start his Master’s in Periodontology for Dentists program, then the Bachelor Program in Dental Hygiene will be added.
We have never had such an opportunity before.
As you can see, we have made some progress. We have had a far way to come, so we might as well be patient and wait for a dental hygiene program which educates at an appropriate internaional level.
Why do we do this?
The DDHV represents internationally recognized dental hygienists from around the world (U.S.A., Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, Netherlands), who have a minimum education of a Diploma in Dental Hygiene (at least two years of full-time (8-5) study in dental hygiene). Our goal is to establish a verified and standardized dental hygiene profession in Germany. At the same time we want to offer those who are interested, and have been misled for years, a profession regulated by law. In this way we are now working together with those who have already been trained in preventive care in Germany. They will be the first to be offered the chance to be recognized as an equal professional.
Naturally, this course of study must be on an international level to be a full member equivalent to that of other countries. Although a petition to achieve this goal has been won in German parliament, the actual establishment of a new profession remains, unfortunately, like reaching for the stars.
* on-the-job-training (dental practice): the trainees‘ offered treatment consists mostly of filling out documents rather than applying the clinical skills of dental hygiene, completely without the tutelage of qualified instructors