U.S. hygienists are voicing their concerns on social media after the American Dental Association (ADA) passed resolutions allowing unlicensed practitioners to perform dental hygiene services.
Recently, the ADA voted on and passed Resolutions 401, 413, and 514B, which would remove faculty-to-student ratios in dental hygiene programs and allow dental students and foreign-trained dentists to practice dental hygiene in the United States without passing a state licensing exam.
“As someone who’s worked hard to overcome obstacles, including profound hearing loss, it’s disheartening to see the recent ADA proposal that would allow foreign-trained dentists to perform dental hygiene services without a licence,” wrote a hygienist from the That Deaf RDH account, which has 1,411 followers on Instagram.
Another user responded, saying, “Feeling this,” adding, “We work so hard to be licensed, and how can an RDH not even practise in all states in our own country?”
In another comment, a user named tooth_fairynyc responded to a video with proposed solutions:
“We should have more dental hygiene schools. We should lower tuition and increase the acceptance rate, even with a C grade, so we can have more hygienists.”
“We don’t need international dentists doing hygiene on patients in the U.S. Maybe we should have international dentists work in offices…
