I practiced dental hygiene in VA before moving to IL to teach a program of dental hygiene. We produce health care providers that have a keen sense of health, pathology, emergency procedures, treatment planning, special needs and pharmachology to mention just a few. I can't immaging doing invasive procedures without that knowledge. I find it interesting that in VA some of the dentists want dangerous expanded duties for assistants, yet resist trained expanded duties for hygienists (we practice local anesthesia in IL).