I strongly oppose any legislation or regulation that permits unlicensed individuals to practice dentistry or dental hygiene, including performing supragingival scaling.
I have practiced dental hygiene since 1997. Based on decades of experience in dental education and clinical practice, I believe patient safety and quality of care require that dental hygiene services be provided by properly educated, licensed, and regulated professionals.
Dental school graduates are highly trained in dentistry; however, dental education does not necessarily prepare dentists to serve as educators for auxiliary personnel or to develop, oversee, and administer certification programs. Expecting a dentist to train, educate, supervise, and certify dental assistants while also maintaining an active patient workload is unrealistic. This model does not meaningfully improve access to quality care; instead, it may place unnecessary risk on patients, dentists, hygienists, and assistants.
Historically, organized dentistry has opposed denturists because of concerns about insufficient formal education and regulation. It is therefore inconsistent for the Virginia Dental Association to support unlicensed and unregulated individuals performing even limited dental hygiene procedures such as supragingival scaling.
Fragmented care delivered by inadequately trained and unregulated personnel is not an ethical or appropriate solution to improving public access to dental care. Expanding access should focus on strengthening the licensed dental hygiene workforce, and not lowering professional standards or compromising patient protection.