There is no way an assistant can be properly trained to scale a patient's teeth in some condensed course. Patient care would suffer and the overall quality of care would decline. The only people who would benefit would be HMO dentists who could now do their useless 6 minute prophy's with the aid of an assistant they would find for 7 dollars an hour and allow insurance companies to dictate prices and care.  What a joke.  It makes a mockery of the entire educational process for dentists and hygienists.  There are enough dentists pushing the envelope already with allowing assistants to overstep their level of training and duties.