Which States Give Dental Hygienists the Broadest Scope? (ADHA Chart Counts)

The ADHA's Practice Act Overview (8.24.26 update) lists 19 of its 22 tracked functions as permitted hygienist scope in Arizona — the highest count of any of the 51 jurisdictions the chart covers.

Arizona ties Oklahoma for the most functions listed with a General-supervision setting, at 15 of 22.

Those are counts of one chart, not a ranking of where hygienists should work.

A high count says the chart lists more permitted functions in that state; it says nothing about pay, job availability, or practice quality.

This page counts the chart directly rather than describing it in prose.

For each of the 51 jurisdictions, a script checked all 22 tracked functions and counted two things: how many are listed at all (any supervision code instead of a dash), and how many of those carry a General-supervision setting somewhere in the cell.

Across all 51 jurisdictions, the chart lists 692 of 1,122 possible cells as permitted (430 are dashes) — an average of 13.6 of 22 functions per jurisdiction, and 8.6 of 22 under General supervision.

Multi-letter cells were split on the slash so every listed setting counts once, matching how the chart itself distinguishes settings like private versus public practice.

"Functions listed" counts how much of the chart's scope shows up in a state's row at all, regardless of supervision level. "Under General supervision" counts only the functions where the dentist doesn't have to be present once the service is authorized — a narrower, more independence-relevant number.

The two don't move together.

Colorado lists 18 of 22 functions — the second-highest count on the chart — but only 4 of them carry a General setting, so most of what Colorado lists still requires a more hands-on supervision level.

Arizona and Oklahoma, by contrast, both list General supervision for most of what they do list, which is why they lead the second count too.

Sorted by the Functions-listed count, ties broken alphabetically.

The second column is the same General-supervision count discussed above, for the same 51 rows.

Source: ADHA Dental Hygiene Practice Act Overview, revised 8.24.26.

Counted directly from the chart's own cells across all 22 tracked functions; a dash means the function isn't listed as permitted in that state's row, not that it's prohibited.

A high count on this chart is not a "best state to work" claim, and this page doesn't make one — it says nothing about pay, benefits, job openings, or day-to-day quality of practice.

Pay is a separate question the ADHA chart doesn't address at all; see dental hygienist salary for that.

A low count doesn't mean a state bans those functions, either.

A dash on the chart means ADHA's chart doesn't list a permitted supervision level for that function in that state — it's silent, not prohibitive.

Confirm anything the chart doesn't list directly with the state dental board rather than assuming it's off-limits.

This ranking counts the Practice Act Overview — which functions a state's hygienists may perform, and under what supervision. Direct access is a separate ADHA chart answering a different question: whether a hygienist can initiate care on their own assessment without a dentist's prior authorization at all.

The two don't track each other.

Arizona ranks highest on this function-count chart and also has a direct-access provision (an Affiliated Practice Agreement for specific settings); a state can rank low here and still carry a direct-access provision that runs through a required collaborative agreement, or the reverse.

Read them as two different charts, not one combined score.

This page ranks jurisdictions by how many functions the chart lists in total.

To see one function's rule in every state instead, the site's per-function articles cover each of the 22 tracked functions individually — several, including oral prophylaxis and x-rays, are listed in all 51 jurisdictions, while dermal fillers is listed in none of them — the most restricted function the chart tracks.

To see one state's full row with the source text quoted directly, Arizona's dental hygienist requirements and Pennsylvania's dental hygienist requirements — the highest and lowest counts on this page — are two worked examples; the full state-by-state requirements index covers all 51.

This page counts what the ADHA's Practice Act Overview lists as of its 8.24.26 update; it is general information, not legal advice, and not a ranking of where to work. Footnote markers on some of the chart's cells did not survive extraction, so no count here is condition-free — confirm your state's exact rule with its dental board.