I would strongly encourage the voice of reason to say absolutely no to having dental assistants be able to scale subgingival. If a dental assistant would like to expand the scope of practice, he/she should consider further their education in an accrediated dental hygiene program and become a RDH. It wouldn't be any different if a RDH would like to perform a procedure like prepping a tooth for a PFM of gold crown or doing a RCT, he/she would have to return to school for a DDS degree. Who is the watch dog to ensure that the "Joe Public" is protected from having an unqualified individual perform duties outside their scope of practice? The consumer is very trusting in hoping that members of the dental team have the consumer's best interest in mind when performing any duties noninvasive or invasive that pertain to each others scope of practice. What is to prevent a DDS from having some that isn't a CDA, performing this procedure because the DDS taught them how to do it.

Consumer beware!!