NBDHE case studies

NBDHE · Put your knowledge to work in context.

The National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) is the written licensure examination that dental hygiene graduates typically sit before applying for state or regional licensure in the United States. It is developed and administered through the American Dental Association's Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE), which also oversees the dental (INBDE) and other national board examinations. The NBDHE case studies are 5 cases and about 5,851 words.

Crumbling Teeth After Head and Neck Radiation: Reading the Salivary Data

A 58-year-old man returns 30 months after 66 Gy intensity-modulated radiation for base-of-tongue squamous cell carcinoma. He is cancer-free but reports that "my teeth are crumbling off at the gumline." Medications: pilocarpine 5 mg three times daily (he is adherent), amitriptyline 25 mg at bedtime, omeprazole, lisinopril, atorvastatin.

1,160 words, about 6 min 2

Blood Pressure 174/106 in the Chair: Proceed, Modify, or Defer

A 61-year-old woman arrives for scaling of the maxillary right quadrant, which includes two 6 mm pockets that bleed on probing. Medical history: stage 2 hypertension, type 2 diabetes (HbA1c 7.4% three months ago), and metoprolol, which she took this morning.

1,278 words, about 6 min 3

An 8-Year-Old Who Wants "Sealants on All of Them Today"

An 8-year-old boy presents with his mother for recall. He is caries-active: two previously restored surfaces, a new white-spot lesion on the primary second molar, and juice in a sippy cup at bedtime.

1,127 words, about 6 min 4

A Screening Test That "Finds the Most Decay": Sensitivity, Specificity, and Two Districts

A rural county health department is deciding whether to fund a universal school-based caries screening program for 9,000 children in kindergarten through grade 3. A validation study of the proposed two-minute visual screening (positive = untreated dentinal caries) reported sensitivity 85% and specificity 90% against a dentist's examination.

1,120 words, about 6 min 5

Did Stopping Fluoridation Cause the Caries Increase? A Press Release Waiting to Happen

In 2016 a city of 85,000 stopped fluoridating its water after 40 years. In 2021 the public health dental clinic reported that mean dmft among kindergarten children had risen from 1.8 to 2.6, and the board is preparing a press release attributing the increase to the loss of fluoridation.

1,166 words, about 6 min