As a dental hygienist, I strongly oppose expanding dental assistants’ scope of practice to include scaling. Scaling is not simply removing visible calculus, it requires a thorough understanding of periodontal disease, anatomy, instrumentation, tissue response, and the ability to recognize when a patient’s condition requires a different level of care.

Dental hygienists complete extensive education and clinical training specifically to assess periodontal health and safely perform these procedures. Allowing someone without equivalent education and clinical preparation to perform scaling raises serious concerns about patient safety and quality of care.

I have tremendous respect for dental assistants and the important role they play on the dental team, but each profession has a defined scope for a reason. Workforce shortages should be addressed by supporting and retaining qualified dental professionals—not by lowering the educational and clinical standards required to provide care.