I am completely appauled at the thought of the common wealth of Virginia actually contemplating allowing dental assistants to perform scaling procedures on an unsuspecting public.  It will not provide greater access to care, and we all know that there would be no savings passed along to the patient, only SUB-STANDARD care.

I also want to clarify that there are no "military trained" RDHs, only dental techs or assistants that have been trained to deliver supra gingival treatment.  The dental hygienists that are petty officers in the Navy have gone to an accredited dental hygiene school and taken board exams and have state licenses.  Trust me, I went to hygiene school with four such individuals.  The military is slowly phasing the prophy tech out and has agreed that the best person to deliver soft tissue therapy is a Registered Dental Hygienist.

I truly feel sorry for all the patients of the dentists who support this.

Respectfully,

Holly Garrison, RDH