This proposed certification requirement will not benefit the public or dental offices. Any new dental assistant is trained under the dentist who has already received extensive training and is entirely capable of training a new assistant. COVID has shown that dental offices around the country are routinely doing an adequate job with sterilization as there hasn't been a single COVID outbreak traced back to a dental office anywhere in the country. Requiring a certificate that an assistant went to an assistant school will especially hurt dental assistants in rural areas that do not have access to an accredited assisting school. 

We already have OSHA training every other year to refresh the staff and doctors about proper sterilization protocols. Many assistants will be forced to pay for this certification themselves which will put an undue hardship on those who have the lowest income in a dental practice. 

If various infections disease outbreaks have been traced to improper sanitation of dental offices, I would support this bill. However, I feel the only group of people this will help are those who run dental assisting accreditation programs.