These dental professionals provide oral healthcare services to underserved, and often remote, First Nations populations. They may be the primary oral healthcare professional in their community.
Dental therapists in B.C. must be employed by the First Nations Health Authority, a regional health authority or an Indigenous governing body, or if practising in a First Nations community or at a not-for-profit facility, and may only provide services to First Nations communities under the under the review and direction of a full dentist licensee or limited (restricted to specialty) dentist licensee. If a dental therapist ends their employment with one of the listed organizations above , they will automatically cease to be a BCCOHP licensee.
Dental Therapist Services are outlined in Schedule F (PDF) of the BCCOHP Bylaws.
BCCOHP’s professional and ethical standards and requirements apply to dental therapists. Dental therapists are required to maintain licence with BCCOHP, and they are also subject to BCCOHP’s investigation & resolution and discipline procedures.
Dental therapists provide oral health care services to underserved, and often remote First Nations populations. They may be the primary oral health care professional in their community. They must be employed by the First Nations Health Authority, a regional health authority or an Indigenous governing body, or if practising in a First Nations community or at a not-for-profit facility, and may only provide services to First Nations communities under the under the review and direction of a full dentist licensee or limited (restricted to specialty) dentist licensee.
Dental therapists are trained to take X-rays, provide hygiene services, give local anesthetics, provide simple direct restorations, place stainless-steel crowns and extract teeth. They provide more extensive services than dental hygienists and perform some of the services traditionally provided by dentists.
Dental therapists do not practice independently. They work under the supervision of a full dentist licensee or limited (restricted to specialty) dentist licensee.
Dental therapists provide services to First Nations community members, many of whom are located in remote areas.
Most dental therapists in Canada completed a formal education program at the National School of Dental Therapy in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. This program lost its federal funding in 2011 and has since been discontinued.
Dental therapy training is a minimum of 20 months and includes pre-clinical and didactic [instructional] components. The curriculum includes human anatomy and physiology; oral and dental anatomy; radiology; preventative dentistry; restorative dentistry; basic oral surgery; local anesthesia; infection control; client management; community health dentistry; ethics and jurisprudence.
All of BCCOHP’s professional and ethical standards and requirements for also apply to dental therapists. Dental therapists must comply with all licensure (including renewal) requirements, and will be subject to the existing investigation & resolution and discipline processes.
It means that all members of the dental team – licensed dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, dentists and denturists – are regulated by one of B.C.’s health colleges. For First Nations people who receive care from dental therapists, it means their oral healthcare is provided by regulated professionals who must show that they meet – and maintain – professionalism and practice standards.
