The time to make changes to the dental practice act allowing properly trained dental assistants to perform simple scaling of teeth is overdue and should have been allowed years ago. In my view it is shameful that the powers that be have restricted those dental hygienists who desired advanced training leading to the performance of more advanced periodontal procedures. Restricting these capable, well trained, intelligent individuals, to a career limited to the detestable act of scraping odious accretions from patients teeth is beyond me. Is it any wonder they demand high wages, and want to keep themselves in demand by limiting the number of available hygienists? How many denists would remain in the profession if all they were allowed to do was scale teeth? It is time to give these people a career track that has advancement and a promising future. It's time to give properly trained dental assistants the option to scale teeth and hygienists options to advance from scaling teeth to other useful periodontal procedures that are in the public interest. For too long dentistry has kept the public interest secondary to practioners, dentists and hygieists, vested interests. If we don't move forward the regulators will do it for us sooner or later. We give too much lip service to being proactive when in fact we act on self interest, turf battles, and demonstrate a penchant for reactivity. What direction is the profession going? R. S. Mayberry DDS,  MCV-VCU 1978