Continuing Competence FAQs

Your current reporting period is listed at the top of the Continuing Competence tab in the Registrant Portal.

Your Reporting Period runs for a period of three years, e.g., 2022 – 2025. Your Reporting Period begins on November 1 of the year it begins and runs until October 31 of the year it ends. Registrants are required to obtain 45 credits between these dates. 

Note: If you are a new registrant in 2024, your Reporting Period will begin on November 1, 2024.

Current Reporting Period: Your Reporting Period runs for a period of three years, e.g., 2020 – 2023, or 2022 – 2025. Your Reporting Period begins on November 1 of the year it begins and runs until October 31 of the year it ends. For example, a 2022 – 2025 Reporting Period began on November 1, 2022 and will end on October 31, 2025. Registrants are required to obtain 45 credits between these dates. 

Note: If you are a new registrant in 2024, your Reporting Period will begin on November 1, 2024.

Minimum Program Credits: All registrants on the General Register are required to obtain 45 credits within their Reporting Period.

Credits Remaining: This line tells you how many credits you are still required to obtain before the end of your Reporting Period.

Reporting Period Summary: This section tells you how many credits you have submitted in your current reporting period in the Limited and Unlimited categories. Refer to the CCP Manual for more information about eligible credit categories.

Below this summary, you will see more information about the categories and sub-categories you have previously submitted credits under. 

The College encourages you to upload all of your learning activities, even once you have met the 45 credit minimum for your reporting period. Ensure you retain your own supporting documentation for learning activities.

Your Reporting Period is listed at the top of your summary information in the Continuing Competence section of the Registrant Portal. Each registrant’s Reporting Period runs for a period of three years, e.g., 2019 – 2022, or 2020 – 2023. Your Reporting Period begins on November 1 of the year it begins and runs until October 31 of the year it ends. For example, a 2019 – 2022 Reporting Period began on November 1, 2019 and will end on October 31, 2022. Registrants are required to obtain 45 Continuing Education (CE) credits between these dates.

Program credits exceeding the minimum of 45 credits in one reporting period cannot be carried over or transferred to another reporting period. 

All registrants on the General Register are required to obtain 45 credits within their Reporting Period.

In the Continuing Competence tab, look for the Credits Remaining line near the top of the page. This line tells you how many credits you are still required to obtain before the end of your Reporting Period. In the image example, the registrant is required to obtain at least 38.25 eligible credits before the end of their Reporting Period.

If you have completed at least 45 credits within your Reporting Period, your Credit Remaining will show as 0.0. The College encourages you to continue uploading all of your learning activities, even once you have met the 45 credit minimum for your reporting period.

You have the option to earn 0.25 continuing competence program (CCP) credits for reading each SoP and the CoE by submitting a self-reflection through the Continuing Competence tab in the Registrant Portal.

If you choose to claim credits for reading your SoPs and CoE, you will only be able to claim credit once for each SoP or COE.

For detailed, step-by-step instructions, click here.

To edit a learning activity that you previously submitted for CE credit, first go to the Continuing Competence tab in the Registrant Portal. Click "Details" from the drop-down menu on the right-hand side to see the full details of your credits, including Title and Sponsor.

Once you are in the Details view, you will see a new "Edit" column appear. The pen icon is clickable and will take you to a form in a new window where you can submit changes to an entry or delete an entry. The clickable "Edit" icon will not appear if you are viewing your credits in the Summary view.

To edit the activity you selected, choose the "Update" option in the form.

From here, you can edit the Start Date, Completion Date, Activity Category, Activity Title, Instructor, Sponsor, and Number of Credits for the activity.

Reminder: Credits for learning activities should be claimed hour-for-hour. An activity that took one hour and 15 minutes should be claimed for 1.25 credits.

You can also upload new documentation (e.g., certificates) for your learning activity. At this time, previously uploaded documentation cannot be deleted.

The self-reflection questions will also appear below the documentation options. Self-reflection questions are only required if you are not uploading new documentation, or you did not previously upload relevant documentation.

Once you have completed your edits, certify the form and type your full name. Click "Submit."

Return to your Continuing Competence tab in the Portal and refresh the page. Your changes will be reflected on this page.

To delete a previously submitted learning activity, go to the Continuing Competence tab in the Registrant Portal. Click "Details" from the drop-down menu on the right-hand side to see the full details of your credits, including Title and Sponsor.

Once you are in the Details view, you will see a new "Edit" column appear on the far right-hand side. The pen icon is clickable and will take you to a form in a new window where you can submit changes to an entry or delete an entry. The clickable "Edit" icon will not appear if you are viewing your credits in the Summary view.

To delete the activity you selected, choose the "Void" option in the form.

At the bottom of the form, select "Yes" to confirm that you would like to delete the record.

Type your full name and click "Submit."

Return to your Continuing Competence tab in the Portal and refresh the page. Your changes will be reflected on this page.

There is no requirement to upload credits within 120 days in the Continuing Competence Program Manual. You are able to upload past learning activities from any point in your current reporting period for credit. Please note that the system will not accept submissions for courses completed in your previous reporting period.

Dental hygienists can claim hour-for-hour program credits for formal education courses or programs.

Registrants must provide proof of successful completion of courses in this category in the form of a transcript. Self-reflection questions will not be accepted.

Review the CCP Manual to assist you in choosing what category a learning activity may be claimed under.

There are two broad categories for program credits: “Unlimited Program Credit Activities” and “Limited Program Credit Activities”. These are further broken down into subcategories. It is the registrant’s responsibility to choose the category and subcategory that best describe the learning activity. Please note that only 20 program credits from the “Limited Program Credit Category” can be applied to the total program credits for your 3-year reporting cycle.

Please note that CPR Courses must be entered under the 4.1 Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) sub-category.

Yes, you may submit volunteering for CE credit. Registrants must be able to justify that reported volunteering activities have significant intellectual or practical content related to their practice of dental hygiene, oral health, or the professional responsibility and ethical obligations of the registrant. 

Volunteering is included as a subcategory in the “Limited Program Credits Category”, where you can apply for up to 7 program credits within your 3 -year reporting period. Note that volunteer hours can only be claimed for practice hours OR program credit.

Registrants must provide proof of volunteer hours for credit in this category by submitting a completed and signed Submission for Program Credit – Volunteering form available in the Registrant Portal Library.

Please enter your study club activities under 3.6.1 Educational Courses or Sessions and select Study Club as the Sponsor. Study club programs may qualify for hour-for-hour credit. 

If you have attended a conference with multiple sessions, submit each session separately in the appropriate category for the topic. Please check the CCP Manual to determine the most appropriate category.

Do NOT enter the entire conference as one entry.

Per the CCP Manual, supporting documentation may include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

• course completion certificate;
• course schedule and outline of course content;
• conference agenda indicating session(s) attended;
• online course outline, learning objectives, and confirmation of successful completion of the course examination;
• copy of transcripts;
• copy of article in its published format;
• copy of presentation(s);

You may also fill out the self-reflection questions in the form.

If you viewed any recorded webinars that occurred at the same time as other sessions you attended, it may appear on your attendance record that you were at two sessions at the same time.

Please complete your submission including the date that you actually viewed the webinar and document the reason for the discrepancy between the attendance record and the submission date in your own records in case requested for review by the College.

Completion of CPR certification qualifies for hour-for-hour credit up to a maximum of 3 hours per permit year. For example, a 90 minute course can be claimed for 1.5 credits.

Enter your CPR Course under the 4.1 Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) sub-category and upload the appropriate documentation.

Once you have submitted a learning activity for program credits, the credits are calculated and immediately reflected in the Credits Eligible column. 

There is no approval of credits at the time of submission, however the College maintains the ability to seek additional verification of the registrant’s attendance, participation, and/or completion of activities. This includes verification of time reported for hour-per-hour program credits. Registrants must be able to justify that reported learning activities have significant intellectual or practical content related to their practice of dental hygiene, oral health, or the professional responsibility and ethical obligations of the registrant.

The Competence Committee has the authority to adjust the number and category of credits accepted for any reported activity.

As a registrant, it is your responsibility to submit learning activities to the Continuing Competence Program that support your dental hygiene practice learning needs. For example, consider:

• How can this learning be applied to your practice?
• Does this learning activity satisfy a practice-related learning need?

It is each registrant’s responsibility to evaluate their learning activities. If you do not feel that a learning activity supports your dental hygiene practice, do not submit it for program credit.

Any activities specifically targeting the registrant’s own mental health and wellness can be claimed for program credit (hour for hour). Completion of the self-reflection questions is required to claim credit in this category. The reflection must demonstrate the relevance of the activity to the profession of dental hygiene.

The College recognizes the value of activities that support the mental health and wellness of registrants (e.g., yoga, massage). However, these types of activities are not learning activities and are therefore not eligible for credit.

Examples of activities that would be eligible for credit under this category include:

• Stress Management for Dental Practitioners
• How to Have Difficult Conversations
• Ergonomics for Dental Practitioners
• Harassment and Bullying in the Workplace

On November 23, 2020, the Competence Committee reviewed previous decisions that allowed only 50% of credits to be claimed for courses from certain online continuing education providers. Many of these decisions were made several years ago, and there have since been changes in online learning.

Registrants can now claim the number of credits to reflect the amount of time a course took them to complete it, hour-for-hour. 

It is the dental hygienist's responsibility to ensure that they are accurately submitting their claims and that the number of credits they are claiming for is represents the actual amount of time they attended the course. For example, if a course took 75 minutes to complete, the dental hygienist would submit for 1.25 program credits, regardless of whether the course provider stated a different number of credits. 

You will only be able to view previously submitted Continuing Competence credits from your current reporting period up until the end of 2021. If you uploaded credits to the previous Database in 2022, these will not be viewable in the Portal. You can now re-add these activities for credit in the Registrant Portal if they were completed within your current reporting period.

If the document icon is present next to an activity you previously submitted for credit, this means you uploaded a supporting document when submitting the learning activity. At this time, you will not be able to view the document you previously uploaded.

Please review the CCP Manual for information about what can be included as supporting documentation. If you do not have supporting documents to upload, you may submit your responses to the prompted self-reflection questions in the portal instead. Ensure that you read the CCP Manual because self-reflection questions are not accepted for some credit categories.

If supporting documentation is not available, registrants may complete the prompted self-reflection questions in the Registrant Portal. Self-reflection questions are not accepted for some credit categories, as noted in the CCP Manual. For example, Formal Advanced Education Courses or Programs require documentation in the form of a transcript, and Self-Directed Study Activities require both a supporting document that shows direct feedback of the examination results by the sponsor to the participant and the registrant must provide responses to the prompted self-reflection questions in the Registrant Portal.

The Reflection questions ask you to:

• Identify one specific example of what you have learned.
• Provide two concrete examples of how you can apply this to your practice.
• Identify some challenges that you may encounter in applying your new knowledge and how you propose to overcome those challenges.

If you are uploading a corresponding document (e.g. certificate) for a course, select "Yes" next to "I will be uploading supporting documents" and upload your documents in the corresponding section in the form. 

If you do not have supporting documentation, select "No." You must fill out the self-reflection questions instead. These will automatically appear in the form.

If you submit credits in category 3.6.3-Self Directed Study you must provide proof of:

• direct feedback of the examination results by the sponsor to the participant; and
• completion and submission of the prompted self-reflection questions 

When submitting for the Mental Health and Wellness Activities category,  submission of the Reflection questions is required to claim credit. The Reflection must relate the activity to the profession of dental hygiene.