The Board of Dentistry has already required that Dental Offices abide by the regulations of both the CDC and OSHA.

I practice in a rural community where trained dental assistants are a rarity. We must train our own assistants and formal training is not readily available.

Over the past 45 years I have had a number of high school students who have worked in my office. Several have gone on to be Dental Hygienists, RN's and one is now a dentist.

Having a requirement, as some have suggested, that no one could work as a dental assistant before having approximately 16 hours of infection control training at a formal setting is not reasonable. We lose and must rehire staff quickly in a rural practice.

Our Component (3) of the Virginia Dental Association has an annual meeting where we do OSHA, Infection Control and CPR Training.

I do not think that requiring dental assistants to be certified once a year will protect the health of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia and instead lose employment opportunities to young Virginians.