For twenty two years I have fought to maintain a standard of treatment in dental hygiene.  The truth be know--many (not all) dentists are trying to find a way to keep the money in their own pockets, and are less concerned about "being able to bring more services to more people".   It's often all about the production and not the quality of care.  I have seen many poorly done restorations by poorly trained expanded functions dental assistants (in fairness, I have also seen some excellent ones) that have worsened already existing periodontal problems or caused them to exist.  And do the dentists lower the cost of the restoration because they are not the one placing them?  Of course not!  Please do not demean or lower the standards of the Dental Hygiene profession by allowing dental assistants to scale.  And will the pay for the dental assistant reflect the additional training and duties they will be asked to perforn?  I think not.  They are usually overworked and under paid as it is in my opinion.  Dental Hygiene as a profession, dental assistants, and the unsuspecting public will be the ones to suffer!