I want to voice my STRONG opposition in regards to the "expanded duties" for a Dental Assitant. This is coming from myself, as a Register Dental Hygienist and as a dental patient.

A lot of points have been raised about this subject. "Dental Assistants scale cement off of crowns, so it just makes sense that they should scale Class I patients".  I, as well as many other RDH's, have experienced MANY times, looking into a patients mouth, and thinking that I am scaling a Class I patient, only to find out that while exploring and perio probing SUBGINGIVALLY, the patient has as much calculus as a Class II and III patient, and 5+ mm pockets. The Dental Assistant has very little experience with recognizing gingival signs of sub calculus and periodontal diseases. You might argue that the Dentist will check the patient after their prophylaxis, but honestly, how many Dentists do you know explore for residual calculus after there patients have completed their cleaning?  (Not trying to offend the dentists who do - :O))

Also, I was EDUCATED and LICENSED not only as a Dental Hygienist but as a Dental EDUCATOR.  I was taught how to teach others the importance of good oral hygiene. I was also taught to be PASSIONATE about my job - you cannot bring someone off the street, train them in a dental office and expect them to educate patients to the standard that a LICENSED, EDUCATED RDH would.

As from a Dental patient standpoint - Most patients are uninformed when it comes to the level of care they NEED to be provided.  If this law passes, I feel that any dentist that supports this is not only supporting a lower level of care for their patients, but also a lower level of service they provide.

Lastly, I do believe that Dental Assitants are VERY needed in a Dental office. They work very hard and are very educated on a lot of different things that I know little about.  When you walk into a hospital, do you want a secretary taking your blood or giving you a shot or do you want a nurse?  That being said, leave the DA job to the DAs and the RDH job to the RDH.