This has been a challenging and transformative year for dental hygienists. With new legislation in several states that expand the duties of dental assistants to include supragingival scaling, many dental hygienists are experiencing uncertainty, frustration, and concern about the future of our profession.
These changes may feel like a threat, an encroachment on the scope of practice we've worked so hard to define, elevate, and protect. This is understandable. We've spent years in rigorous education, clinical training, and licensure to become highly skilled providers of preventive and therapeutic oral health care. Seeing duties traditionally performed by us delegated elsewhere can feel like a devaluation of our role.
How dental hygienists can face-off with the challenges
But what if we choose to see this moment differently? What if this isn’t a threat, but an opportunity and chance to reimagine how we can lead in modern dentistry?
We can choose to be at the forefront of access to care, especially in communities where provider shortages lead to a lack of preventive services. We can position ourselves not just as clinicians, but as care coordinators, screeners, and mentors. We can decide when patient needs are appropriate for a dental assistant and when a hygienist’s expertise is required for advanced care.
We can lead the development of training programs and provide clinical supervision to ensure assistants are competent, confident, and working within appropriate parameters. Rather than stepping back, we can step up as the leaders in preventive care we’ve always been.
But this evolution must go hand-in-hand with another long-overdue shift: dental hygienists should have professional autonomy and the ability to regulate our own profession. We deserve to be represented when decisions are made that affect our careers, patients, and profession. True respect comes not just from what we do, but from the authority we’re given to shape how we do it.
Dentist/dental hygienist tensions
One of the most heartbreaking outcomes of this year has been the increasing tension between dentists and dental hygienists. Social media has sadly become a breeding ground for division, judgment, and toxicity. Instead of functioning as a unified care team, we’re fracturing. Dentists feel threatened. Hygienists feel devalued. The relationship has become adversarial in too many settings, when it should be collaborative. We need to remember that we’re better together. The health of our patients depends on the strength of our teams.
I know many hygienists are tired, burned out, working in toxic environments. They feel unheard and unappreciated. They’re questioning their career choice, and some have lost the spark they once felt for this incredible profession.
I still believe in this profession. Who’s with me?
I believe being a dental hygienist is a privilege. We are blessed to touch lives, to help people heal, to screen for disease, prevent illness, and in some cases, save lives. Every patient who leaves our chair healthier than when they came in is a testament to our skill and dedication.
Now is the time to reclaim our joy in what we do. Let’s advocate for better workplaces. Let’s support one another. Let’s focus on mentorship, growth, and leadership, not just survival.
Change is here. But it doesn’t have to define us in fear. It can refine us into something stronger, more united, and more purposeful than ever before.
We are dental hygienists. We are leaders in oral health. And the best of what we do, the heart of what we do, cannot be replaced.
Let’s rise to meet this challenging moment together.
