Historically, rigorous training, testing, licensure, and continuing education has been required to practice dental hygiene for the safety of the patients that we serve. There is a lot of information and effort that goes into that training for a very good reason when dealing with the health of the public. You want to make sure that those who are providing care are knowledgeable enough make informed healthcare decisions for their patients and not potential misdiagnosis and failure to provide adequate care. It is important to keep the previous guidelines that require a true education and board-certified testing to ensure safety not only for the patients but for the protection of the practitioners as well. The risk to a dentist and their licence increases exponentially when they have somebody providing care underneath their license who does not truly understand what they are doing.