I strongly oppose dental assistants being permitted to scale.  I am a recent graduate and  worked very hard to learn how to best care for dental hygiene patients.  Please do not lower the standard of care that registered dental hygienists are providing to patients in Virginia by allowing a dental assistant to work as a hygienist.  Licensed dental hygienists are trained for years on the proper way to instrument and how to avoid tissue trauma.  I don't think all of our training can be wrapped up into a quick certification course for a dental assistant.  The patients best interest is the most important matter and patients in Virginia deserve to be treated by a registered dental hygienist.