I strongly disagree with allowing dental assistants to do scaling! Hygienists have been through a rigorous program and are very well educated in their field. Allowing assistants with minimal training to perform these procedures is doing a disservice to the patient. I'm sure that if the patient knew the difference between a well educated hygienist and a minimally trained assistant they would much rather have the hygienist treat them. Patients are paying for the best of care, they do not want substandard treatment...just because it saves the employer a couple of bucks!! In the long run it might not save them a couple of bucks if the patients refuse to go to their practice because of the lack of care they are receiving. Would you go to a surgeon who was very well qualified and had years of practice or one that had the least amount of education possible?? This is the patients health we are talking about!! I think we are missing a major issue here, shouldn't we make sure that all the assistants in Virginia are certified in an appropriate program and have passed a state board test instead of on the job trained. Then we can talk about what they are "allowed" to do. The public as a whole has no clue what the difference between an assistant and a hygienist is, Im sure that if they knew they would pick the more properly trained individual!