The American Vet Association won’t let hygienists scale the teeth of DOGS yet you’re willing to let untrained individuals scale human patient’s teeth. 

This will mean:

-periodontal disease undiagnosed

-the distrust of patients 

-lack of good OHI because DAs haven’t gone through head and neck anatomy and pharmacology and pathology and don’t know what exactly is right for each patient.  it’s not a one size fits all. 

-patients who don’t get perio charted even once when due can suffer. I just had a patient yesterday who developed a 7mm pocket in one year (rapid vertical bone loss, very concerning. Sent him to a specialist. This wouldn’t have been caught by a DA scaling. 

-Pathology will be missed  Doctors go through their exams so quickly very often that the hygienists, who are highly trained to recognize lesions of all sorts, are often the last if not only line of defense in screening for oral cancer  

I’ve heard  they will only be scaling healthy patients. You KNOW this will not be monitored. and the percentage of truly healthy patients is less than 10% so that wouldn’t even be helpful. 

DENTAL ASSISTANTS ARE ALREADY OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID  

DOCTORS, TRY PROVIDING MEDICAL BENEFITS, EQUIPMENT FROM THIS CENTURY, PAID SICK LEAVE and i’ll bet your “hygiene shortage” goes away magically  

Hygienists are PROVIDERS  We are CLINICIANS  We aren’t just SCALING TEETH  

Patients stay and keep coming back because of their relationship with us  because we know them, we care about them, we share our knowledge and experience with them  

we check their BP, update their medical issues and the list of meds they’re taking (lots can have dental implications and this can effect what we will tell them about how to care for their teeth and what are the best products to use  We pre screen for any pain or discomfort they may be having and how often and when it hurts and how long has it been going on  (this saves you a GOOD 5 minutes of time in the op)

We take extra radiographs of said area before you arrive and have usually told the patient what you are likely to recommend so they are not shocked by the mention of a crown (or whatever) when you say it  (the preheat  you’re welcome, just saved you another 5/10 min of explaining)

we perio chart every year and more often if we can  we show them how to floss EVERY TIME.  We ultrasonic and handscale. If that ultrasonic drops into a pocket we somehow hadn’t noticed, guess what?  we note it and grab our probe and perio chart again  We talk to them while we are cleaning about the color and shape and texture of their gums and why and how and the mechanism of action of periodontal disease and how to avoid it and they say “no one has ever told me this before” and we know that’s not true  We teach them about how they should be caring for their specific gums and teeth and tissues and removable appliance at home while we handscale and then we start talking about the benefits of fluoride and why they need it and this is like an act of congress please trust me.  then we treatment plan everything back there, make their next cleaning appointment, give them their swag bag and walk them to the front .  then we have negative ten minutes to clean our room, set up a clean room, and do it all again  with no assistant (usually) (oh and the note  I didn’t even add writing the note in there  it must be so nice to have an assistant and just pop in, do the work, pop out ) 

and in my office no lunch on mondays and fridays  

Do you honestly think an assistant scaling is a good alternative? a time saver? You’re putting a band aid on a broken leg and calling it good. Might as well let Hygienists come in and do dental work while we’re at it. I see no difference.