As a former dental assistant and now a licensed registered dental hygienist for over 16 years, I ask the Virginia Board of Dentistry to do its job and establish appropriate regulations for Dentists and OPAs.

When legislation was introduced, it stated that the Board of Dentistry (BOD) would provide oversight.

Without BOD regulation of OPAs and the dentists who train them, the board is putting Virginians' health at risk. Gum disease affects 2 in 5 adults in America and is linked to over 57 systemic health conditions. Untrained, unregulated dental assistants performing supragingival scalings will only exacerbate the problem.

The didactic skills needed for my job cannot be taught by someone who doesn't know them or wasn't trained to teach them. I cannot imagine a dentist taking 1200 to1800 hours of production to train someone to scale supragingivally effectively. That is 150 to 225 8-hour days to train these OPA's. 

The Board needs to reconsider its stance on no regulations.