i.  successfully completed a program in dental hygiene that is equivalent to a full-time program of two years and which, at the time of the applicant's graduation, was accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada or by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation, or

ii.  successfully completed a program in dental hygiene that the Registration Committee considers to be substantially equivalent to a program referred to in subparagraph i.

Examinations
An applicant's course of study must meet the current educational requirements prior to being eligible to sit the National and/or Provincial examinations.

a) Written Certification Examination
An applicant must be the holder of a certificate issued by the National Dental Hygiene Certification Board (NDHCB) or, if the applicant is not eligible to sit the NDHCB examination but otherwise meets the registration requirements, must have successfully completed a provincial written certification examination set or approved by the Registration Committee of the CDHO.

It is a policy of the Registration Committee that an applicant's course of study must first be assessed by the NDHCB prior to being referred for an assessment to the Registration Committee. Therefore, an applicant must first apply to the NDHCB to determine whether s/he is eligible to sit its written examination. Generally, applicants deemed eligible to sit the written examination by the NDHCB will have little difficulty meeting the remainder of the CDHO's educational requirements. Please note, the NDHCB is separate from the CDHO and conducts its own assessment of applicants.

National Dental Hygiene Certification Board
1929 Russell Road, Suite 322, Ottawa, Ontario
K1G 4G3, Telephone: 613-260-8156, Fax: 613-260-8511,
e-mail: exam@ndhcb.ca or website: www.ndhcb.ca. For information on the NDHCB examination fees, click here.

Applicants whose courses of study have been assessed by the NDHCB and who are considered eligible to sit its examination are not required to have their courses of study re-assessed by the Registration Committee. The Registration Committee is satisfied that the assessment process used by the NDHCB is sufficient to determine whether a course of study meets the current educational requirements.

If an applicant were not eligible to sit the NDHCB examination and wished to proceed with an application to the CDHO, the application would be referred to the Registration Committee of the CDHO to consider whether the applicant's course of study meets the current educational requirements of the CDHO.

b) Clinical Competency Evaluation
In addition to the above, all applicants who have graduated from a non-accredited dental hygiene program are required to successfully complete a provincial clinical competency evaluation set or approved by the Registration Committee of the CDHO. Should the applicant's course of study and application be approved by the NDHCB, s/he would be eligible to sit the CDHO's clinical competency evaluation without further assessment of her/his course of study.

Note: To ensure that an applicant has sufficient dental hygiene knowledge and in the interest of public safety, s/he must first successfully complete the NDHCB examination prior to participating in the clinical competency evaluation.

Information respecting the clinical competency evaluation is available here. Once an applicant has successfully completed the NDHCB examination, they should review the CDHO website for information on how to apply to take the clinical competency evaluation. This is very important as space is limited and candidates for the evaluation are taken on a first come, first served basis.

Once a candidate has successfully completed the clinical competency evaluation, a registration application package will be forwarded to her/him to complete and return to the CDHO.

Assessment of Course of Study
Please note that the CDHO does not provide informal assessments. Completed applications are reviewed to ascertain whether the applicant meets the current registration requirements. The application will not be processed if completed improperly and does not contain the appropriate supporting documentation.

Applicants who are not eligible to sit the NDHCB examination and wish to proceed with an application will be referred to the Registration Committee for consideration. The applicant must arrange to have an original detailed course description submitted directly to the CDHO from her/his institute of graduation, as well as a detailed description of all the subjects taken within the applicant's course of study and the number of hours spent in each subject. The course description must specify the number of clinical hours that were actually spent on scaling, root planing and prophylaxis procedures, and how many and what types of clients the applicant was required to perform these procedures on during her/his course of study. The course description must relate to the applicant's years of study.

The CDHO requires an applicant to have reasonable fluency in either English or French. This is assessed informally through the applicant's ability to successfully complete the written examination(s) and clinical competency assessment. Please note that all documents submitted in languages other than English or French must include official translations.

Once a completed application package along with the required supporting documentation has been submitted, it takes approximately three months for the course of study to be assessed and a decision to be handed down by the Registration Committee.

The fee for an assessment is $250.00. Should an applicant be successful, this fee would be credited towards their initial certificate of registration fee.

Equivalency
To determine equivalency, the members of the Registration Committee review all the documentation submitted by an applicant and determine what courses of study taken by the applicant are relevant to dental hygiene. The process is divided into four (4) sections (behavioural sciences, biomedical sciences, oral health sciences, and dental hygiene theory and practice), which address different required elements of course content and application that must be found within the applicant's course of study to establish equivalence. It is more difficult to assess courses of study that were not directly in dental hygiene as the Committee will be reviewing the applicant's course of study for elements of therapeutic/preventive therapy that include preclinical practice and the dental hygiene process of care with respect to a variety of patients/clients. In addition, the Committee will review the applicant's course of study to determine if the areas of oral health education, health promotion and professional practice are covered in sufficient scope and depth to ensure equivalency.

Applicants Who Graduated in Dentistry
A non-exemptible requirement for registration in Ontario is that an applicant must have graduated from a two-year recognized accredited dental hygiene program or one considered substantially equivalent by the Registration Committee of the CDHO. In Ontario, dental hygiene is considered a separate and distinct health profession from dentistry. Work experience is not considered a substitute for training in an educational supervised setting. Therefore, unless an applicant has successfully completed a program of study in dental hygiene in addition to her/his degree in dentistry, it is unlikely that the applicant's course of study would be considered equivalent to a recognized accredited dental hygiene program.

The Registration Committee has, over the years, reviewed many courses of study received from applicants who graduated in dentistry from Colleges/Universities in Bangladesh, China, Croatia, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Syria, United States of America, and Yugoslavia. Although the members of the Committee recognized that there were overlaps between the two courses, they had many concerns. Rarely does a program of study in dentistry focus on the dental hygiene process of care. Most importantly, the Committee felt that the courses reviewed did not ensure competence in the controlled acts of scaling and root planing relative to the dental hygiene process of care. Therefore, these applicant's courses of study were not considered equivalent to a recognized accredited dental hygiene program and they were not eligible to sit the CDHO's certificate of registration examinations.

These applicants would be required to complete an approved dental hygiene program prior to re-applying to the CDHO. In Ontario, the educational institutes that teach dental hygiene, do not normally take part-time students. Therefore it is usually necessary for an applicant to be first accepted into the dental hygiene program where s/he may receive credit for prior learning. However, any prior learning assessment or credit would have to be determined by the dental hygiene program to which the applicant applies. The CDHO has no control over the number of credits, if any, that an applicant who applies to a dental hygiene program in Ontario receives for prior learning.

Registration Requirements
Please note the following registration requirements for a general certificate of registration:

1. The applicant must satisfy the CDHO, where they have previously practised dental hygiene or another profession, that there has been no finding of, or current proceeding involving allegations of, professional misconduct, incompetence or incapacity or any like finding or proceeding against them that affects their fitness to practise the profession.
2. The applicant must satisfy the CDHO that they have not been convicted or charged with, and not found "not guilty", of an offence that affects their fitness to practise the profession.
3. The applicant must submit the original or a notarized copy of the Canadian Police Information Centre Criminal Record Report (CPIC report) that is dated no earlier than one year before the date on which her/his application is submitted.
4. The applicant must be a Canadian citizen or a holder of permanent resident status in Canada or be authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) to engage in the practice of the profession.
5. The applicant must be able to speak and write either English or French with reasonable fluency.
6. In the event that the applicant completed their dental hygiene program more than three years prior to the date of the application for registration, they must successfully complete a refresher course or professional competency assessment set or approved by the Registration Committee.

Jurisprudence
Part of the registration process includes showing familiarity with the rules and regulations that govern dental hygiene in Ontario. The CDHO has developed an on-line course - Jurisprudence Education Module. Although there is no fee to complete the module, the initial registration application fee must be submitted when registering to take the examination portion of the module. This can be paid on-line.

Fees

• Initial application fee – CAD $75 non-refundable
• Clinical competency fee – CAD $500
• Certificate of registration fee – CAD $250