Dental hygienists are educated and trained in scaling, and providing complete preventative care to patients.  I urge you to be respectful of our patients so they get the most proper care availiable to them, they trust the dental community for this.  Would you want a nurse to have the scalple in their hand ready to perform surgery on you?  Or would you rather have a trained doctor do it?  I know what I would choose.  Dental assisstants are a very important member of the dental team and without them the dentist could not do their work to his or her potential.  It is important to be ethical as we all pracatice in the field of dentistry an remember why we all do what we do, to provide the very best care to all of our patients!!