Professional Development
Professional development involves ongoing education and training related to a person's career. Its aim is to keep
current knowledge and skills, stay informed about new research and trends, and support a high standard of practice.
Professional development forms the basis of a quality assurance and continuing competence program. In Canada, dental
hygiene regulatory bodies require registered professionals to maintain their knowledge, skills, aptitude, and judgement
to provide high-quality, evidence-informed dental hygiene care to clients. This ongoing education also enables them to
renew their certificate of registration or licence to practise each year.
Maintain your continuing competency with CDHA and discover professional development activities to improve service
provision, respond to technological advancements in the dental industry, and support the development of new clinical
knowledge and approaches to dental hygiene care!.
Professional Development Opportunities
Workshops and Conferences
CDHA offers both virtual and in-person events on various topics across Canada. One year, CDHA hosts a major conference, which the following year alternates with a summit, a smaller-scale conference focused on a specific topic. CDHA also
holds its Annual General Meetings virtually and in person. Dental hygienists can also attend workshops and conferences
hosted by their local and provincial or territorial associations. These are excellent opportunities for learning, but
most importantly, for networking with like-minded colleagues.
Online Courses and Webinars
CDHA provides members with exclusive online courses, free webinars, and has negotiated exclusive pricing for the Dental
Hygiene Quarterly. In addition, many provincial/territorial dental hygienists' associations provide similar offerings
for their members and third-party courses and webinars are also regularly populated.
Professional Development Activities Offered by the Dental Industry or Other
Organizations
Many dental companies, dental distributors, commercial organizations, universities, and colleges offer virtual,
in-person or distance education to dental hygienists. Federal government health agencies, departments of health, and
interdisciplinary associations also offer professional development that may qualify under your provincial/territorial
continuing competency program.
Explore more on CDHA’s Oral Health Events Calendar.
Additional professional development opportunities*:
*These additional professional development opportunities have not been vetted by
CDHA, nor is CDHA affiliated with or
endorse any of the material presented.
Publications
Most provinces/territories recognize the study of, or submission to, dental
hygiene publications as part of their
continuing competence program. The Canadian Journal of Dental
Hygiene (CJDH), the peer-reviewed research journal of
CDHA, has current and several years of archived issues online. CJDH is also indexed in the following
biomedical
databases: CINAHL, EBSCOhost, Gale, MEDLINE ProQuest, and Scopus. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene,
a US publication, has
evidence-informed articles with quiz questions that can also be used to obtain professional development
credits.
Additional scientific self-study opportunities:
Study Groups
Study groups related to dental hygiene practice offer a unique opportunity to
network and dialogue with dental
hygienists in your area and may count towards your continuing competence program requirements. Contact your
provincial
association to find out about groups that may be meeting in your area.
Formal Education
In addition, degree completion and graduate studies may also satisfy your
provincial/territorial continuing competence
program requirements. CDHA strongly supports continuing education and there are several education
pathways (transfer credits) between Canadian dental hygiene programs and Canadian and international
universities that will help you develop
your education pathway and advance your career. There are also numerous opportunities for dental hygienists
to pursue
education using microcredentials. These are short, vocational, cost-efficient courses or certifications
which lead to
specific skills and career advancement. Some examples of microcredentials for dental hygienists include
certification in
myofunctional therapy, orthodontics, geriatrics, infection prevention officer, just to name a few.
Professional Development Requirements
Each province/territory has different rules concerning the types of professional development activities that
are
eligible for use towards the continuing competence program requirements (educational
courses/webinars/workshops,
advanced study, study of professional journals, conference attendance, professional meetings, professional
article
writing, etc.) and how credits are calculated for each activity (hour-for-hour credit, credits per activity,
credit as
recommended, goal-based learning, etc.).
CDHA recommends that each dental hygienist keep records of all professional education activities taken,
including
certificates of completion, transcripts, receipts, speaker notes, and other supporting material to present
to their
respective regulatory body at renewal of their certificate of registration/licence of practice in support of
their
continuing competence program.
Note: It is the responsibility of each dental hygienist to ensure that the chosen
professional development activities
meet the requirements of the provincial/territorial regulatory body in terms of type of activities, topics,
mode of
delivery, post-assessment, post-event self-reflection exercise, and credibility of the speaker to name a
few. To learn
more about the different provincial/territorial continuing competence requirements, please consult the regulatory
body of the province/territory in which you are registered to practise.