re: Is it legal for dental hygienists to open a teeth cleaning practice?

quote:

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I think it is you that is focused on money and not the proper care of the patients

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...and sending root planing to the hygienist would be the opposite of putting money first. It is sending money OUT the door. But there's a reason that the overwhelming majority of dentists (and most periodontists) have their hygienist do the root planing - they are better at it. It's what they are trained to do, and they do it virtually all day every day. Any dentist that thinks the can out-root plane a good hygienist is fooling himself. Sure, most dentists do some cases here and there, but there's a good reason they have their hygienist perform it. If independent hygiene practices became a reality, the only dentists who WOULDN'T send it to the hygienist would be the dentists who can't fill their daily schedule with other work.