I am strongly opposed to any change is the law that would allow dental assistants to scale teeth. As supragingival calculus provides the pathogenic pathway for subgingival calculus and oral disease, its complete removal is essential to treating periodontal diseases and maintaining oral health.  The proposed regulations and rationale provide no assurance that the health and welfare of patients will be protected. While the proposal advocates that dental assistants  who scale would have to pass the Dental Assisting certification examination  implying that they would be certified, hence competent to scale,  let’s be clear that there is nothing on that exam  related to supragingival scaling as this is clearly not a role of the dental assistant. This is a smokescreen promulgated by the dentists with no real relevancy to this issue. This would provide no assurance to the public that these individuals are adequately trained or competent to provide these services.

The health and welfare of the consumers of dentistry in VA must be maintained through the high standards promulgated by the American Dental Association. Virginians must demand that all types of scaling be perfromed only by licensed dental hygienists. Moreover these hygienists have graduated from programs accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Accreditation and passed both the National Dental Hygiene board exam in addition to the regional clinic boards ensuring their competency.  Clearly this is not an access to care issue but but one where a small but powerful cadre of dentists are looking for economic gain with minimal concern about the health, safety and welfare of  consumers in the state of Virginia.