Dental Hygiene Practice FAQs

Please check with your provincial or territorial regulatory body for clinical refresher courses that meet the requirements in your jurisdiction.

A list of accredited dental hygiene programs in Canada can be found on the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC) website. You will find a complete list of degree and diploma programs on CDHA’s website.

Quality assurance programs vary greatly across the country, and the standards for these programs are set by the regulatory bodies. Please contact your provincial or territorial regulatory body for further information on the requirement. You will find a list of regulatory bodies on CDHA’s website.

CDHA members are invited to submit free event listings to our Oral Health Events Calendar.

CDHA encourages each and every member to raise awareness of dental hygiene issues in their community. To support you in this endeavour, CDHA has prepared an Advocacy Toolkit, which includes key oral health messages, a letter template, meeting guide, and other resources to present to local political leaders or other organizations describing the vital role that dental hygienists play in helping to ensure optimal oral and overall health for all Canadians.

The Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene (CJDH) is the only peer-reviewed journal published in Canada exclusively for dental hygienists. The journal is published in February, June, and October, and is publicly available online. CDHA’s research agenda provides a foundation for the current national oral health priorities and directs future dental hygiene research efforts.

Every two years, CDHA conducts a dental hygiene Job Market & Employment Survey to gauge employment trends in Canada and collect and analyse data on key aspects of the profession. It includes questions about salary rates, employment benefits, workplace injuries, and practice environment, etc. The most recent survey was conducted in 2023; the results are available free of charge to members.

Each province has unique regulations and standards for the practice of dental hygiene. You will need to contact the dental hygiene regulatory body in your new province to determine the criteria that must be met before you can practise there.

Please refer to the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials’ website for information regarding the registration process for dental hygienists in Canada.

The International Federation of Dental Hygienists (IFDH) provides information on 26 countries where dental hygiene is a recognized profession.