Whoever thinks dental assistants should scale teeth are CRAZY! Doesn't any remember what Standard of Care means? Registered Hygienist go through tremendous hours of training, 2 -4 yrs at an accredited school and have to take state & regional boards to get a license. Scaling teeth is so much more than removing calculus, every patient is unique and different, you have to have a deep knowledge of dental health and clinical skill, it doesn't come overnight. I feel Dental assistants should not be able to scale teeth, they need the proper training and the creditals of RDH in order to scale teeth. If this were to happen the patients i feel would not want this, they want the best available care and overall patients hygiene health would decline and alot of periodontal problems would arise. .