Edman K, Stark C R, Basic V, Lindblad J, Hirsch J-M. Dental hygienists and dentists as providers of brush biopsies for oral mucosa screening. Int J Dent Hyg 2023; 21: 524-532.

Dentists and DHs are capable of collecting satisfactory material for cytology and hrHPV analysis.

This study investigated if dental hygienists (DHs) and dentists (Ds) in general dental practice care can be entrusted to perform brush sampling of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs). Five DHs and five Ds participated - they received one day of theoretical and clinical training in oral pathology to identify OPMDs and perform brush sampling for PAP cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) analysis. Out of 222 collected samples, 215 were adequate for morphological assessment and hrHPV analysis. All the participants agreed that sample collection can be incorporated in DHs and Ds routine clinical duties, and most of them reported that sample collection and processing was easy/quite easy.