Dental Hygiene: So Many Schools, So Many Questions

Looking at pursuing a career in dental hygiene? Trying to work through all of the different schools and the information they present? Here are a number of important issues to consider.

1. Is the program you are applying to accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC)? CDAC is the national organization that is responsible for accrediting all Canadian dental hygiene programs. Schools accredited by CDAC have demonstrated that their dental hygiene program has met performance standards around matters such as the curriculum, the school’s building, the admissions process and student success.


2. Is the program offering a curriculum that satisfies recently approved national dental hygiene educational requirements? Various levels of government and different dental hygiene regulatory organizations have developed and approved the National Competencies (Entry to Practice Competencies and Standards for Canadian Dental Hygienists – January 2010). These competencies are comprised of a skill set and knowledge that all dental hygiene graduates will be expected to know upon graduating from their program.

This is an important consideration since the National Dental Hygiene Certification Exam (NDHCE), an exam that dental hygiene graduates in Canada must write and pass, will be comprised of questions that reflect these competencies starting in 2013.


3. Does the program offer opportunities for furthering your education after graduation?

The Canadian Institute of Dental Hygiene (CIDH), located in Hamilton, Ontario, satisfies all of the above considerations.

CIDH is the first private accredited dental hygiene program in Canada and has been so since 2002. Since its inception in 2000, CIDH has consistently delivered an excellent dental hygiene program that has seen its graduates be successful on the NDHCE and then go on to successful careers.

In July 2011, CIDH was pleased to announce that its revised curriculum had been approved by the Government of Ontario as meeting the National Competencies mentioned above. This approval continued the school’s history of being on the cutting edge of dental hygiene education in Canada.

CIDH has entered into an innovative articulation agreement with the Open Learning Division of Thompson Rivers University (TRU-OL) in Kamloops, BC. Upon graduation, CIDH students will have earned approximately 2 years of credits towards a Bachelor of Health Science or Bachelor of General Studies from TRU-OL. The courses you take through TRU-OL can be done in a print, web or online format.

For more information about CIDH, visit their website at www.cidh.on.ca or call the school at 1-877-550-2443 or 905-524-2434.