Kentucky’s Push to Expand Dental Assistant Duties Sparks Backlash From Dental Hygienists
Kentucky’s proposal to create an oral preventive assistant role, allowing dental assistants to perform procedures traditionally reserved for dental hygienists, has ignited strong opposition among dental hygienists who say the plan compromises patient safety and educational standards. With similar discussions emerging in multiple states, the move signals a growing national shift that could reshape scope-of-practice boundaries across the dental workforce.
Kentucky is facing significant dental workforce shortages, but the Board of Dentistry’s proposed solution of broadening dental assistant responsibilities through a new oral preventive assistant certification has sparked strong concern among the state’s dental hygienists. The proposal would permit assistants to perform supragingival scaling, remove sutures, and take final digital impressions, placing them squarely in territory long reserved for licensed dental hygienists. Kentucky hygienists worry that such changes undermine the training and expertise required for safe preventive care. State hygiene leaders are actively opposing the measure, emphasizing that lowering educational standards is not the answer to access challenges. Kentucky is not alone; several states, including Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Arizona, are beginning to explore similar expansions of dental assistant duties, signaling a broader national trend that could reshape clinical practice and intensify scope-of-practice tensions across the profession.
