I disagree completely for assistants having this as an opportunity.  I feel that if an assistant chooses to advance his/her career, that person should attend a dental hygiene school to become a Registered Dental Hygienist. To just offer extra, minimal training for assistants to scale patients would be disrespectful to the RDHs who have worked a very hard 2-1/2 years to earn their degree. Most of all it would be practicing way below the standard of care. This is not acceptable for our patients. We all deserve the best health care possible. If there is a shortage of dental hygienists in Virginia or any other state, they should open more accredited Dental Hygiene schools so these motivated assistants can get their degree in dental hygiene and provide great care to the public. It worked in IL. There are plenty of Registered Dental Hygienists here, due to the many schools that have opened. I would say now we have a shortage of dentists!!

We have worked extremely hard to keep our profession strong. We are supposed to move forward, not backward.

Sincerely,

K Brown BFA, RDH