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Dentist Quality Assurance Requirements

BCCOHP’s Quality Assurance (QA) Program helps ensure the public is well-served by competent oral healthcare professionals. 

Dentists are required to take mandatory continuing education courses and fulfill continuous practice requirements.

Note: BCCOHP’s QA program will be enhanced in order to promote career-long hands-on learning, encourage collaboration among oral health professionals and improve treatment outcomes for patients.  Harmonization of the quality assurance program and other individual requirements will be a priority after September 1, 2022.

Current QA Program

BCCOHP’s QA program has two main components:

  • continuing education (number of credits required to hold practising registration)
  • continuous practice (number of practice hours required to hold practising registration)

Your QAP cycle is assigned at the date of registration and runs on a three-year calendar cycle.

Below is a summary of QA requirements for dentists. General information about continuing education and continuous practice can be found in the sidebar.

Continuing Education - General Information
Continuous Practice - General Information

Following are descriptions of the categories under which dentists may earn CE credits and the maximum number of credits allowed in each category over a three-year QAP cycle.

Category/ Modality

Description

Max Credits Per Cycle 

Dentists

Clinical Dental

Relates directly to the provision of patient care and treatment

No limit 

Dental Practice Management

Relates directly to the operation and management of a dental practice (does not include courses related to personal financial or retirement planning, or marketing products or services to patients)

30

Dental/
Medical Emergencies

First aid, CPR, ACLS, and management of dental/medical emergencies

24

Non-Clinical Dental

Topics that are applicable to the registrant’s practice of dentistry

15

Other Dental

E.g. CDA modules, lecturers/ presenters/mentors/supervisors, university/college courses, examinations, publication authorship, and learning contract/directed study

Variable

See pages 6-7 of Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document

Note: There are credit limits associated with the various CE learning categories and modalities (e.g. live lecture versus self-study). For more information, read the Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document.

Dentists are encouraged to review the eligibility criteria for continuing education credits, which is available here.

Dentists are required to maintain a minimum number of hours of mandatory continuing education (CE) in order to renew registration to practise each year.

Your QAP cycle is assigned at the date of registration and runs on a three-year calendar cycle, e.g. January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2022.

Minimum required credits during a three-year QAP cycle: 90 credits (one hour = 1 credit)

Detailed requirements, including course eligibility, are outlined in the Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document.

Dentists must achieve at least 900 practice hours within their QAP cycle in order to renew their registration as a practising dentist.

Acceptable continuous practice hours include the provision of clinical dental treatment, clinical dental consultation (dentists only), employment as a dental educator​ or dental researcher, or enrollment in a dental education program.

To meet the continuous practice requirement, dentists must work approximately 25 hours per month (within their QAP cycle).

You are responsible for keeping track of your own yearly hours and will be asked to report them during your annual renewal.