I strongly oppose Dental Assistants’ scaling of Periodontal Class Type I patients. While Dental Assistants are a very valuable member of the dental team, they cannot provide the type of comprehensive preventative care that Registered Dental Hygienists have been trained to give. True assessment of a patient’s dental heath consists of thorough medical history review including blood pressure monitoring, head and neck exam, periodontal exam including PROBING AND  EXPLORATION FOR CALCULUS and diet and nutritional counseling. I have treated many patients who fall under the Periodontal Class Type I category but still have some localized subgingival calculus. It is neglect to allow Dental Assistants to scale supragingivally on these patients and it is highly unlikely that most Dentists’ schedules will allow for the rest of the previously mentioned assessment duties to be performed as they should be. It has been my experience in almost 12 years in dentistry that Dentists focus on restoration of teeth and do NOT perform thorough periodontal exams. This would put many patients at risk. Why not utilize the member of the dental team that has been educated and licensed to perform all of these duties with the TOTAL health of the patient in mind, the Registered Dental Hygienist. Please consider the overall health of our patients and vote NO to allowing DA II’s to scale teeth. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Rebecca Tinsley, RDH