The public infrastructure for oral health is not sufficient to meet the needs of disadvantaged groups and is disproportionately available depending on certain racial, ethnic and socioeconomic factors. Dental and dental hygiene professionals need to consider expansion of our workforce model at all levels as an attempt to address these shortcomings. The argument can be made for whether or not an increase in scope of practice will sufficiently address access to care issues. In Kansas, allowing the provision of scaling for dental assistants did not. More importantly, if scaling is added to the responsibilities of a dental assistant, what will be the education and training requirement, and who will provide it? It is also imperative to question hygiene shortages; are they real or perceived? There is no doubt the profession must address the workforce capacity and identify new solutions. At some point, this will more than likely include an expanded function dental hygiene model as well.