Dental Therapy Assistant: Quality of Restorations Placed and Finished.

Abstract : The U.S. Army Dental Corps has implemented a new concept of dental care delivery, formally identified as the Improved Dental Care Delivery System. The concept is based on the conservation of professional manpower resources through the use of dental treatment teams employing expanded duty dental assistants. Dental Therapy Assistant (DTA) is the Army's nomenclature for the expanded duty dental assistant--a basic assistant/oral hygienist trained to perform certain dental tasks formerly performed only by a dentist. Highly significant increases in the productivity of teams employing DTAs have been documented and reported by the Division. The major objective of the present study was to determine the quality of the procedures performed by the DTAs--specifically, the critical functions of placing and finishing restorations in cavities prepared by dentists. To meet this objective, restorations placed and finished by DTAs were compared for quality with similar restorations placed and finished by Army dentists. The report presents the findings from that comparison.