Please do not approve any requests to allow Dental Assistants the expanded duties to scale and polish periodontal Type I patients under direct supervision of the dentist, unless the Dental Assistant completes an accredited Dental Hygiene course and passes the Virginia State and National Exams like all other Dental Hygienists are required to do.
Direct supervision of the dentist! Come on, you know what that means - the dentist is in the practice somewhere, most likely seeing another patient, to busy to supervise the unqualified Dental Assistant. Patients will without a doubt, receive inferior care by these unqualified Dental Assistants. The incidents of infection from improper scaling will no doubt sky rocket as will the number of law suits for malpractice because the unqualified Dental Assistants were not properly supervised. Who is responsible then, the Dentist, the Board of Dentistry for passing such a crazy proposal? Would you want your Dentist to treat you for a skin disease or viral infection? They are considered doctors and have had some medical courses under their belt - so why not!
This proposal seems to be a business decision to maximize the Dentists profits. Would lower labor costs equate to lower costs to the patients or insurance companies? You know the answer to that is NO. The prices will stay the same, because how many Dentists do you know lower their prices when they obtain a new employee for a lower wage? The only thing this proposal will do is lower the quality of care to the citizens of Virgina, while increasing the practices' bottom line.
If this purpose of this proposal is to allow greater access to care, why not then adopt Colorado’s law, which allows Registered Dental Hygienists to operate their own Hygiene offices. This will definitely be a great opportunity for the Dental Profession and definitely allow great access to Preventive Oral Health, why brining the costs to patients and insurance companies down. Not to mention be a growth factor for the industry.
