I am writing to ask the board to not to allow dental assistants to scale subgingivally. As a hygienist, I have undergone extensive education in orofacial anatomy, dental pharmacology, oral pathology, dental materials, oral histology and embryology, nutrition and biochemistry, general anatomy and physiology, microbiology, community dental health, periodontics, among many others. To even imagine that a dentist could possibly train a dental assistant to perform the kind of clinical care given by a licensed, certified dental hygienist is ludicrous. We have years of training that qualify us to provide The dentist that have written in support of this measure are not concerned with the standard of care being preserved, only the dollars in their pocket. They are a disgrace to their profession. To say that the standard of care would decrease considerably if this measure is approved is a gross understatement. In addition, I do not believe that the dental patients of Virginia would be very happy to know that their periodontal care is being provided by someone with no formal education or even a basic understanding of periodontal structures, tooth anatomy, etc. With the invent of managed care, the closing of many dental schools around the nation, and the number of dentists that are retiring yearly, the dentists left practicing have an overwhelming amount of patients to see and diagnose every year. With the time and practice constraints that this produces, the likelihood of them taking the time to do a thorough exam is decreasing. I have been practicing for 8 years now and have never seen a dentist do as thorough of an exam as we are taught to do while we are in school. The mouth truly is a window to the systemic health of a patient. As all educated dental professionals know, many systemic diseases first manifest in the oral cavity. It is the dental hygienist who has the time to do a thorough head and neck exam, oral cancer screen, and intra and extra oral evaluation. In addition, education is of paramount importance to the preventative aspect of dentistry. How can you delegate the job of patient education to one without education themselves? No, the duties of the dental assistant should not be expanded to include scaling. The services rendered by a dental hygienist go far beyond a simple scaling and without a background of formal education the standard of care would indeed be jeopardized.
