As a Dental Hygienist, clinician and educator, I firmly believe that expanding the duties for a dental assistant to scale is not in the best interest of the patient, or the profession of dentistry and dental hygiene.

Dental hygienists are stringently trained oral health professionals that are educated under STRICT CODA guidelines for the preventive aspects of preventive care. Dental hygienists are supervised for 1,948 hours; 585 of them being clinical dental hygiene instruction.

I don't believe that the DA standard would be as such, or even remotely such,  remember the dental hygienist not only has to have the above hours of instruction, but are board certified with a National written board and a regional clinical board to prove that they are competent to provide the HIGHEST standard of care. After passing all of the above, only then are they allowed to sit for state licensure. One must hold this license to practice the scope of dental hygiene, then must take a certain number of continuing education credits to maintain that licensure and uphold that standard of care.

By allowing a dental assistant to perform the duties of a dental hygienist is placing the oral health of the public in jeopardy and not in the best interest of the patient.

Also, what about the other aspects to care; who will be providing the assessment, evaluating the caries risk, oral systemic link risk, periodontal risk. Even mild gingivitis patients have other issues that are contributing to disease, as gingivitis is an infection of gingival tissue. By having the DA perform the prophy, valuable information cannot be assessed, implemented and evaluated.

Please investigate to the "why" of the underserved are and provide increased access to care to the oral health professional specifically educated to provide these services; the Dental Hygienist.

Thank you for your consideration.