Elevating the Standard of Care

As a periodontist, I am aware of the importance of maintaining collaborative relationships with my general dentist colleagues. We must be a team if we want to save our patients' teeth. I have been a member of the American Academy of Periodontology for 29 years and had the pleasure of serving on the AAP Board for 11 years. Over the course of my tenure-which included serving as Board President in 2021-I observed a shift in the role hygienists play in collaborative patient care. The AAP conducted market research resulting in data indicating that patients deem hygienists the most trustworthy source of dental information and that general dentists include opinions of hygienists in treatment decisions and referrals. And it got me thinking: How can the AAP better educate, influence, and mentor hygienists?

Fast forward to a few years later, when the AAP Board appointed its Task Force on Dental Hygienist Engagement. This group was charged with identifying ways for the AAP to do three things: 1) empower its members to position themselves as periodontal mentors and leaders; 2) provide hygienists access to high-quality, on-demand education; and 3) create a mechanism for hygienists to engage with the AAP more closely. After several years of thoughtful ideation and deliberation, including soliciting advice and input from the hygienist community, the task force created the Dental Hygiene Engagement Initiative. The AAP Board of Trustees unanimously approved it.

The Dental Hygiene Engagement Initiative, which launched in 2023, is a multi-pronged effort intended to elevate the hygienist role in collaborative periodontal care. It includes:

• AAP Dental Hygiene Study Club: The study club program arms AAP members with resources to host dental hygiene study clubs in their local area.

• In-Person Hygiene Educational Events: The AAP currently hosts a Dental Hygiene Symposium at its Annual Meeting each year. In addition, AAP plans to have a presence at other hygiene-focused events.

• AAP Dental Hygienist Recognition Program: The recognition program provides a home for hygienists within the AAP. The more a hygienist engages with the AAP through dental hygiene study clubs, online content in the Hygiene Learning Library, or in-person AAP events such as the Dental Hygiene Symposium at the Annual Meeting, the higher level of recognition earned.

The goal of this initiative is to encourage peer-to-peer communication between periodontists and hygienists, provide expanded periodontal education opportunities to the hygiene audience, and ultimately help improve patient care.

I encourage you to seek out an AAP Study Club in your community. The AAP hosts on its website a directory of AAP members who have enrolled in this effort. If you don't see your local periodontal office, I encourage you to reach out and encourage them to join. I also suggest you join the AAP Dental Hygienist Recognition Program (it's free to sign up). This will not only give you access to the Hygiene Learning Library, which contains on-demand online content and other helpful periodontal information and will also set you on the path to earning acknowledgement through the AAP. You can join the recognition program and find the directory at dentalhygiene.perio.org/recognition/.

Please know that the AAP, and your periodontal colleagues, are here to support you. Using the Dental Hygiene Engagement Initiative resources, you can chart a course toward more effective collaborative care relationships and ideally better patient care-two things you are already committed to.

James G. Wilson, DMD
Past President, American Academy of Periodontology
Founder, Tampa Bay Periodontics and Implant Dentistry
Tampa, Florida