I am also opposed to the proposed regulation.  As an educator for over 20 years, I have taught in baccalaureate, masters and associate level dental hygiene programs.  At times it has been a struggle to find time in the current curriculum to provide dental hygiene students with the skills, knowledge, and experiences to provide quality care to their clients.  To also recognize the needs of each individual client and plan appropriately to address those needs.   While it would be easy to say "its just a little scaling or polishing" - it isn't.  There are too many oral and systemic conditions that can be detected during routine dental care, there are too many existing oral problems that need attention and having the proper training is vital to providing this level of care. We currently have a group of qualified, well-trained individuals to complete this task - dental hygienists.

There is also the aspect of understanding the knowledge base of making the treatment decisions for scaling, polishing, etc.  Our clients are paying for a specific level of expertise, a level of expertise that makes treatment decisions based on scientific evidence.  Our clients expect and should receive this type of care each time they enter the dental office.  I don't feel that the proposed legislation would benefit our clients but put them at risk for dental disease that will go undetected because the time and expertise was not there to identify these conditions and concerns.