Wow, I would hope that every patient would receive the same quality of care regardless of how much calculus and its location. To allow the assistant to do the scaling would be a true diservice to the patient who is expecting the specialized care and wealth of knowledge that a RDH can give. Sounds to me that the bottom line is money and not quality of care. As for the military techs doing prophies..I have spent numerous years in the military setting trying to correct the inadequate prophies rec'd by these techs...and who suffers? The Patient! .. whom  can not understand WHY after several years of prophy tech cleanings , do they have so much calculus and signs of periodontal disease.  Let the Board talk to any hygienist that has worked in such a setting and really get the bottom line on how well it works having assistants do cleanings....the trueth will be known!!!! Please do not allow such a disservice to filter into our private sector.