Support an Emergency Order to Increase Dental Assistants in MA

We are at an extreme shortage of dental assistants. Our current RDA’s and CDA’s need support before they burn out. They need to be able to delegate tasks such as sterilization to others so they can take Xrays and assist the dentist chairside. These tasks can be OTJ trained and supervised.

Please support the executive order to extend the on the job training from 6- 12 months and no licensure for directly supervised dental assistants. We need these individuals in our practices. Thanks you!

Very important issue for dentists

The situation has become dire.

I support this petition1

We have been down assistants all year and we not only can’t hire assistants to fill open positions, no one is applying for the positions.

We need to be able to train assitants just for infection control

Get rid of License Requirements for DA.

This shortage affects patient care. The pandemic has made it a crisis

Extremely hard to find DAs right now!

Please also consider to hire Dentist with Limited License to work as a Dental Assistants. At the end of the day, they are already trained dental staff, that will be trained again working under full license dentist.

Working in the dental care industry, I am fully aware of the need for Dental Assistants (RDA) here, North of Boston. We have an extremely difficult time finding a temp RDA when ours' is out for vacation, sickness, or PTO

State of Massachusetts has the most strict regulations regarding registered dental assistants. This shortage of dental assistants is not sustainable and will impact dental health of residents of MA in near future. As dentists, we need auxiliary staff to properly perform our jobs.

I hope the public can also see that dentists can't treat them alone. We need a team which includes trained dental assistants. The shortage should be addressed. Thank you

The COVID closure is a reminder of the importance of providing dental care in a timely manner . Dentists alone can’t do it without a team . I talked to indeed and they are seeing a higher number of offices looking fir staff and lower number of qualified applicants . Please help us help the community.

There are some hard working people who would make great dental assistants but the licensing is making some impossible to join the dental team. Some dental assistants pay $10K for the “training” still know nothing at the completion of the program. We end up re-training them on the job.

Dentists are dealing with a crisis with lack of dental assistants and are willing to train for the position. This will also increase job opportunities for those hardworking people who did not go to school for this.

Medical Assistants do not need to be licensed and have such stringent requirements- why should dental assistants? It makes no sense.

As a profession, dentistry needs to do more to help the public, both in and out of the dental office. This would be beneficial to dentists and unemployed restaurant workers as well. Great idea from MDA!