Dental hygienists are licensed healthcare professionals with a minimum 2 years of extensive education and training. During a routine hygiene appointment, dental hygienist not only scale but detect oral diseases and pathology, as well as provide preventative care and patient education. If dental assistants are trained within an office or a short term program without proper testing and certifications, it is unclear the quality of care being given to patients. Dental hygienists will not see these patients routinely and dentists simply do not have the time to fill in the gap of care that hygienists provide. I do not believe dental assistants will have the proper education to provide proper oral cancer screenings, detect oral pathology, assess periodontal disease, provide thorough patient education, etc. Scaling is an important part of dental treatment, but scaling requires proper technique for full removal of calculus and if not completed correctly, will result in residual and/or burnished calculus which will contribute to increased chronic gingival inflammation and periodontal disease. Allowing minimally trained dental assistants to scale is a disservice to patients and will result in a decline in oral health. If there is a shortage in the workforce for dental hygienists, then more programs and educational opportunities should be created. And, there should be a focus to improve dental hygienists workplace to retain dental hygienist in their field. There is a shortage of dental hygienists due to the high burnout rate.