Dental hygienists' opinions about loupes in education.

PURPOSE The present study was conducted in order to explore dental Hygienists' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of loupes, and the extent to which dental hygienists believe loupes should be utilized in the educational setting. METHODS Dental hygienists were contacted through a popular dental hygiene website and were asked to participate in a survey regarding the use of loupes. Eight hundred sixty-eight valid surveys were completed. Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they use loupes, the environments in which they have used loupes, when they think loupes should be introduced to students in dental hygiene school, and the advantages and disadvantages of using loupes. RESULTS Results indicated approximately 60.5% of practicing dental hygienists surveyed for the study always or sometimes use loupes, however only 21% had actually used loupes as a student. A number of differences were found between those respondents who use loupes and those who do not use loupes in regards to how they believe loupes should be used in education. Alleged advantages of using loupes received much greater support than alleged disadvantages. Members of the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) were much more likely to always use loupes than non-ADHA respondents. CONCLUSION Dental hygienists participating in the survey believe that loupes should be introduced to dental hygiene students, although many believe using loupes should be an option while in school. Wide agreement exists among dental hygienists in regards to the advantages of using loupes. The authors contend that loupes are a vital tool that students should learn how to use, but the use of loupes should be optional once a student has learned how to use them properly.