The necessity for infection control dental hygienist system in Korea: focus group interviews

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the need for dedicated staff to improve the level of dental infection control in blind spots and to propose an appropriate dental infection control specialists system. Methods: This qualitative study used focus group interviews to explore and explain the need for dental infection control specialists based on the dental hygienists’ experiences with dental infection control. The participants were clinical dental hygienists with ≥ 7 years of experience in medical institution accreditation evaluation as infection control managers in dental clinics at universities and university dental hospitals. Results: This results were divided into five themes; ‘weaknesses in the level of dental infection control’, ‘characteristics of dental treatments with high risk of infection’, ‘dental clinics are blind spot in infection control’, ‘need for a dental infection control specialists’, and ‘the appropriateness of infection control dental hygienists system’. Conclusions: To improve dental infection control, it is necessary to establish a system appropriate for the size and conditions of the institution, provide guidelines, and operate an infection control dental hygienists system.