PS.  My request to the Virginia State Board of Dental Examiners/Regulatory Board, is to uphold the integrity of dental hygiene care for the citizens of the Commonwealth. 

Do so by encouraging dentists to embrace dental hygienists with ideal working opportunities utilizing their skills and education to inform the public of caries control methods and the prevention of periodontitis.  Research has shown the connection of periodontial disease to diabetes, premature births, low birth weight, and cardiac disease.  Patients deserve full mouth periodontal chartings each year or every eighteen months at least. Isolated periodontal pockets can be like one bad apple in a bushel.  An isolated periodontal diseased site can soon spread to other areas of the mouth.

With ideal working enviorments, benefits and  respect for their ability of patient management , dental hygienists will be flocking to dental offices.