As a hygienist in the commonwealth of 32 years I am appalled by this legislation. It is a lawsuit waiting to happen. We as hygienist have 4 years of detailed training both clinically and didactically then have to pass both regional and national boards. We are then required to maintain continuing education credits in order to comply with license requirements. Do you really think that training an assistant in a few short weeks will be adequate?  What happens when corporate dental offices deploy these ill trained these dental assistants to complete cleanings. Will there be outside oversight?  Certainly not. It will for sure happen that  these assistants will complete full cleanings and the corporate offices with their big attorneys will pay the fines. Who suffers? The patients of course. I have busted my tail for 32 years to provide excellent care to my patients. The board has just slapped hygienists and all of our hard work in the face. Realistically it takes all of 5 minutes to remove supragingival calculus. An assistant scaling surpragingivally is of no help to me and would be a hindrance. You want to improve the shortage?  Make licensing reciprocal across state lines and promote and expand  the dental hygiene programs especially at MCV. Present and recruit at the high school level. This legislation is not the answer and is not safe for our patients.