Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness of the performance and necessity of oral health promotion activities and seek ways to revitalize the professional role of dental hygienists in oral healthcare for the efficient oral care of the elderly. Methods: Eighty-five dental hygienists in charge of oral health promotion projects at public health centers and 38 dental hygienists in network dental clinical trials were investigated for their learning experience, performance experience, feasibility, and necessity of dental hygienists for general and oral health service items for the elderly. The collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis, chi-square test, and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The degree of performance possibility according to the learning experience and performance experience of the dental hygienist for the whole body and oral health promotion activity items for the elderly showed that the degree of performance possibility was higher among those with experience compared to the non-experienced person, and it was statistically significantly higher (