As a dental hygienist who previously was a dental assistant I feel that by passing this patients will be endangered. Dentists will be all over this because they are thinking about their bottom line and if this passed they will no longer have to pay for professional hygienists to do cleanings. I am all for professional development and this is why I continued my education after 10 years of dental assisting and became a dental hygienist but I feel that this is not in the patient's best interest.

As a Registered Dental Assisitant in Extended functions in California, I am allowed to do expanded duties such as packing cord but only after receiving training at either UCLA or UCSF. As a dental hygienist, we recieve extensive training (didactic and clinical) for a minimum of two years although some dental hygiene programs are four years long. When I first started my training as a dental hygienist I thought that it would be a piece of cake since I was already an experienced dental assistant but boy was I wrong! It is so much more involved than a person who is not a hygienist can understand.

Please do not let dentists convince you that this is a good idea because they are only interested in cost savings.