I am srongly against letting dental assistants scale on my patients.I have been a hygienist for 22 years and I can honestly tell you it has taken many years to become competant at scaling teeth even after 4 years of dental hygene school.  If a dental assistant wants or needs to scale teeth then they should spend the time attending a dental hygiene school.My patients need and depend on my competency to scale their teeth effectively without pain and undue damange to their gingiva. I was a dental hygienist for a periodontist for 10 years before I could  honestly say I could scale teeth effectively.I do not see any benefit to the patients or the dentists to allow dental assistants to scale teeth.  They are a very valued member of the dental team and in my office have enough responsibilities in patient care that they do not need to scale teeth.As a dental hygienist I spend the most time with my patient in the office and not only do I scale their teeth but I provide counseling and education that is invaluable to their overall health.  I spent 4 years in hygiene school to learn all that I know and it is not appropriate to let a dental assistant assume these responsibilties for patient care.  This is a ploy from dentists who would allow substandard care to their patients to maximize financial gain.  The dentists I work for value my skills and would not allow this to happen in my office.  I am ashamed at the dentists who think this is an appropriate situation for their office, and who would put financial gain ahead of patient care, however I know those type of dentists are out there.  The virginia dental association should be ashamed to even allow this type of thinking.  If this is how they feel than I think dental hygienist should be allowed to do their fillings and extractions for them with out the proper training. Lets think about that. Shame on you for putting financial gain over patient care and safety.