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Dental Resources: National Board Exam

Resources for the Dental Assistant and Dental Hygienist programs.

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National Board Dental Hygiene Reference Texts

National Board test items are not based on specific textbooks. Test construction committees that develop the Dental Hygiene Examination use, as reference, the latest editions of the following textbooks:

I. Scientific Basis for Dental Hygiene Practice

Basic Science

  • Fehrenbach and Herring, Illustrated Anatomy of the Head and Neck, Elsevier Health Sciences.
  • Phillips, Ralph W., Moore, B. Keith, Elements of Dental Materials, WB Saunders. 
  • Isben, Olga A.C., Phelan, Joan Andersen, Oral Pathology for the Dental Hygienist, Elsevier  Health Sciences.
  • Bath-Balogh, Mary., Illustrated Dental Embryology, Histology, and Anatomy, Elsevier Health Sciences.

Pathology

  • Isben and Phelan, Oral Pathology for the Dental Hygienist, Elsevier Health Sciences.
  • DeLong and Burkhart, General and Oral Pathology for the Dental Hygienist, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.  

Pharmacology

  • Gage and Pickett, Mosby’s Dental Drug Reference, Elsevier Health Sciences.
  • Haveles, Pharmacology for Dental Hygiene Practice, Delmar Learning.
  • Pickett and Terezhalmy, Dental Drug Reference with Clinical Implications, Lippincott William & Wilkins.
  • Requa-Clark, Applied Pharmacology for the Dental Hygienist, Mosby.
  • Wynn, Meiller, and Crossley, Drug Information Handbook for Dentistry, Lexi-Comp.
  • Yagiela, Neidle, and Dowd, Pharmacology and Therapeutics for Dentistry, Mosby.
  • Pickett and Terezhalmy, Basic Principles of Pharmacology with Dental Hygiene Applications, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

II. Provision of Clinical Dental Hygiene Service  

DH Theory and Practice

  • Darby and Walsh, Dental Hygiene Theory and Practice, Saunders.
  • Wilkins, Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Daniel, Susan J., Harfst, Sherry A., Mosby's Dental Hygiene, Concepts, Cases, and Competencies,
  • Clark, Morris S., Brunick, Ann L., Handbook of Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen Sedation, Mosby/Elsevier. 

Periodontology

  • Newman, Takei, et al., Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology, Elsevier Health Sciences. 
  • Nield-Gehrig, Fundamentals of Periodontal Instrumentation and Advanced Root Instrumentation, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Perry, Beemsterboer, and Taggart, Periodontology for the Dental Hygienist, Saunders.  

Radiology

  • Haring and Lind, Radiographic Interpretation for the Dental Hygienist, Saunders.
  • Johnson and Thomson, Essentials of Dental Radiography for Dental Assistants & Hygienists, Prentice Hall.
  • Miles, Van Dis, et al., Radiographic Imaging for Dental Auxiliaries, Saunders.
  • Razmus and Williamson, Current Oral and Maxillofacial Imaging, Saunders. White and Pharoah, Oral Radiology: Principles and Interpretation, Elsevier Health Sciences.  

Planning and Managing Dental Hygiene Care

  • Gladwin and Bagby, Clinical Aspects of Dental Materials: Theory, Practice, and Cases, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Little, Miller, et al., Dental Management of the Medically Compromised Patient, Mosby.
  • Phillips and Moore, Elements of Dental Materials, Saunders.
  • Craig, Powers, Wataha, Dental Materials: Properties and Manipulation, Mosby.
  • Saunders, Stegeman, and Davis, The Dental Hygienist’s Guide to Nutritional Care, Elsevier Health Sciences.
  • Pickett, Gurenlian, Preventing Medical Emergencies, Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins  Zwemer, Mosby’s Dental Dictionary, Mosby.

III. Community Health

  • Geurink, Community Oral Health Practice for the Dental Hygienist, Elsevier Health Sciences.
  • Mason, Jill Concepts in Dental Public Health, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Thomson, Evelyn M. Bauman, Deborah Blythe, Shuman, Deanne, Andrews, Esther K., Case Studies in Dental Hygiene, Pearson Prentice
  • Little, James W., Falace, Donald A., Miller, Craig S., Rhodus, Nelson L., Dental Management of the Medically Compromised Patient, Mosby.

Component B Case-Based Section

The case-based scenarios incorporate the above concepts with the following additional books.

  • Daniel, Harfst, and Wilder, Mosby’s Dental Hygiene: Concepts, Cases, and Competencies, Mosby.
  • Thomson, Bauman, et al., Case Studies in Dental Hygiene, Prentice Hall.