A paradigm is a widely accepted worldview of a discipline that shapes the direction and methods of its practitioners, educators, administrators, and researchers. A discipline's paradigm comprises major concepts selected for study by the discipline and statements about the concepts that identify its relevant phenomena in a global manner. A paradigm specifies the unique perspective of each discipline and is the first level of distinction between disciplines. In a discipline, "the structural hierarchy of knowledge progresses from a single paradigm to multiple conceptual models and multiple theories derived from each model."

The paradigm for the discipline of dental hygiene, as defined by the American Dental Hygienists' Association, consists of the following four major concepts:

• Client
  The potential or actual recipient of dental hygiene care; includes persons, families, groups, and communities of all ages, genders, and sociocultural and economic status.
  
  
• Environment
  Factors other than dental hygiene actions that affect the client's attainment of optimal oral health. These include economic, psychological, cultural, physical, legal, educational, ethical, and geographical factors.
  
  
• Health and Oral Health
  The client's state of being that exists on a continuum from optimal wellness to illness and fluctuates over time as the result of biological, psychological, spiritual, and development factors. Oral health and overall health are interrelated because each impacts the other.
  
  
• Dental Hygiene Actions
  Interventions that a dental hygienist can initiate to promote oral wellness and to prevent or control oral disease. These actions involve cognitive, affective, and psychomotor performances and may be provided in independent, interdependent, and collaborative relationships with the client and the healthcare team.