The bill by San Diego Senator Denise Ducheny would allow dental assistants to get on the job training in a dental office in lieu of taking courses at a school: 
  
It allows for people who are working in a dental office to actually get on the job training from the dentist who is there employing them.
 
The bill passed the full Senate on a 36 to zero vote, despite an outcry from a number of dental groups.  They object to dental assistants without a license working on patients.
Christy Borquez, with the California Dental Assistants Association, fears untrained dental assistants could be doing anything from cleaning teeth to administering anesthesia: 
  
 Their practicing will not be in a classroom, it will be on the patient.
 
The bill now goes to the Assembly for consideration.