Licensed Veterinary Technicians (LVTs) are already allowed to suture surgical skin incisions. Like veterinarians, LVTs are increasingly developing special areas of professional expertise, including specialist certification through the Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians. They are already educated in tissue handing and suture placement. With proper instruction and oversight, many LVTs are perfectly capable of properly closing most gingival flap incisions. Of course, discretion of whether to allow a technician to close a particular incision, which technician to assign to the task, and ultimate responsibility for proper closure always rests with the veterinarian. In cases when a veterinarian has determined in his/her professional judgment that (s)he has an appropriately skilled LVT to properly suture a particular gingival flap, the regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia should not supercede the veterinarian's clinical judgment.