Having been an assistant and now a dental hygiene student, I am STRONGLY OPPOSED to allowing assistants to perform ANY scaling duties. Before entering dental hygiene school, I could have never grasped the importance of proper scaling and the impact dental hygiene treatment can make on the over all health of a client.

Proper instrumentation alone is a technique that requires ADEQUATE training and practice under the supervision of experienced hygienists. One must learn not only how to operate the VARIETY of instruments, but also how each one functions. This type of understanding is not something to be taught in a matter of weeks, despite how much training an assistant has had.

In addition to understanding instrumentation, one must also have a comprehensive knowledge of the surrounding hard /soft tissues and of the deposits as well.  Without this knowledge you are putting the client at risk for substandard health care.

Be it supra- or sub- , scaling is a service that should be limited ONLY to  those who have a vast knowledge in oral health care, NOT ASSISTANTS.

Also: If allowing dental assistants to scale Class 1 clients is supposed to alleviate the shortage of oral health care providers and allow a dental office to run more efficiently, would it not be MORE time consuming if a dentist was required to directly supervise the assistants performing these scaling duties?