I believe dental assistants are important to oral health care delivery but they should not be granted professional, clinical responsibilities outside their educational experience and degree. 

I have been a CDA since 1983 and RDH since 1985.  I have practiced and still remain licensed in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Presently, my Virginia  license is active and the only state I am now practicing.  I have through the years experienced similar laws attempting to be passed.

I personally have just spent the past two months studying on my own outside of "scheduled work time"  in the field to keep abreast with the ever changing continuing educational requirements to practice within the scope I feel confident.  I also spent considerable personal monies to fund the course on local anesthesia recently.

My main concern is a sincere lower standard of care to the public.  I strongly oppose any proposal that allows dental assistants to perform supragingival scaling or any other invasion of the scope of dental hygiene practice.

Respectfully,

Vula L. Kainaroi, CDA, RDH BSDH