Dear Board of Dentistry,

I am very concerned with patient care.  If a dental assistant is trained to scale teeth, will they also be taking Blood Pressures, Screening for Oral Cancer?  What would be the point in having dental hygiene if the assistant is doing scaling? 

We as Hygienists not only scale teeth we are constantly monitoring peolpes health with updates on medical history, blood pressure, oral cancer screening, checking for boneloss,  periodontal disease and more.  We need not to risk our patients health with unlicensed Dental Hygiene.

Don't let this go forward.  Thank you,  Joanne Kane RDH, licensed for 36 years to provide care to all.