The Georgia Legislature recently considered a bill (HB 684) that would have purportedly allowed greater access to dental care for Georgians in safety-net settings by allowing dental hygienists to perform cleanings without requiring that a dentist be present or an exam be given.

Initially, the Georgia Dental Association opposed the bill. Subsequently, the association worked on amendments with the sponsor. After numerous negotiations, the GDA agreed to accept the amendments, and the bill passed out of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Why did the GDA, after making suggestions for numerous amendments, change its position of support on the bill when it reached the Rules Committee? Simple -- at the end of the day, our member dentists could not compromise their first order of ethical care: to do no harm -- as would inevitably result from patients believing that a cleaning was the same as an exam.

Click here to read the rest of this commentary by GDA Executive Director Frank Capaldo published at Dr. Bicuspid.com (Scroll down to the Second Opinion article entitled Dispelling Myths About Barriers to Care and HB684. Free registration required.)