An Act to amend and reenact § 54.1-2729.01 of the Code of Virginia, relating to dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing; certification.
HB970 amends Virginia’s dental assistant practice statute to create a pathway for dental assistant I and dental assistant II personnel with at least 1,800 hours of clinical experience to obtain certification to perform two additional procedures: supragingival scaling and coronal polishing. The bill sets out training and certification routes, including training from a licensed dentist or hygienist using a curriculum from a qualifying statewide dental association, certain federal or military-related programs, or an existing dental assistant education program. It also requires the supervising dentist to certify under oath that the assistant completed the required training and at least 20 supervised full-mouth supragingival scaling procedures with patient consent.
Once certified, a dental assistant I or II may perform supragingival scaling with hand and ultrasonic scalers and coronal polishing under indirect supervision of a licensed dentist. The bill also limits a dentist to indirectly supervising no more than two such assistants at a time while they perform these tasks. In addition, it exempts Board of Dentistry regulations adopted under the act from the Administrative Process Act, allowing the Board to implement the new rules without the usual APA rulemaking procedures.
The bill directly amends § 54.1-2729.01 of the Code of Virginia, expanding the scope of practice for certain dental assistants and creating a new certification framework tied to training, supervision, and documentation requirements. It affects licensed dentists, dental assistant I and II personnel, dental hygienists involved in training, and the Board of Dentistry, which must promulgate implementing regulations. The act also removes those regulations from APA coverage, giving the Board faster and more flexible authority to establish the details of certification and practice standards.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote data, so there is no documented debate or roll-call pattern to indicate support or opposition. Based on the enacted chapter status, the bill ultimately received sufficient legislative approval and was signed into law. The structure of the bill suggests a generally practical, workforce-oriented approach to expanding dental assistant duties while preserving dentist oversight.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of concern inherent in the bill include the expansion of clinical duties for dental assistants, the sufficiency of training and supervision requirements, the limit of two assistants per supervising dentist, and the exemption of Board regulations from the Administrative Process Act. Those issues would likely matter to dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, and regulators, but the supplied record does not show any expressed opposition or amendment disputes.