The dental hygienist as a hospice care provider.

The hospice concept focuses on the interdisciplinary team approach to providing palliative care for the terminally ill patient. Although oral conditions resulting from the patient's disease and treatment are frequently encountered in hospice patients, dental personnel have not traditionally been recognized as members of the interdisciplinary hospice team. This paper presents a model which incorporates a dental hygienist into the hospice team. We suggest that the roles of the dental hygienist are educator, dental consultant, and primary care provider.