The Board of Trustees of the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA), at its winter meeting, adopted the Competencies for the Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (ADHP). The ADHP model has been created by ADHA as an answer to the oral health crisis in America.
ADHA's vision is that this new mid-level provider would safely provide quality diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic and restorative services directly to the un-served public. In 2004 the ADHA House of Delegates, representing more than 120,000 dental hygienists across the country, recognized the need for ADHA to increase its efforts to address the public's unmet oral health needs and thereby approved the development of an advanced dental hygiene practitioner. This is a significant advancement for the dental hygiene profession and demonstrates ADHA's strong commitment to the public's oral health.
"The approval of these ADHP competencies represents the culmination of nearly four years of work by ADHA," said ADHA President Jean Connor, RDH. "I'd like to thank the members of the ADHP Task Force who worked so hard to make this a reality. This milestone is just the latest example of the way that ADHA is truly advancing the profession of dental hygiene and working hard to provide solutions to this nation's oral health crisis."
Members of the ADHP Task Force included:
Deborah Lyle, RDH, MS, Chair
Kristin Calley, RDH, MS
Michele Darby, BSDH, MS
Lynnette M. Engeswick, RDH, MS
Marie V. Gillis, RDH, MS
Sharon Golightly, RDH, EdD
Wendy Kerschbaum, RDH, MS
Christine Nathe, RDH, MS
Jacquelyn L. Fried, RDH, MS
Hope Oliver, RDH, Med
Look for the finalized version of the ADHP Competencies document to be posted at www.ADHA.org in the next few weeks.
