Profession-specific standards
The four principles, provincial dental colleges and the CDA Code applied to consent, confidentiality, boundaries, conflicts of interest, overtreatment and candour
Dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and other dental professionals regulated in any Canadian province or territory, including those responding to a complaint or college investigation.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a college inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
This course applies the four core principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice to the realities of Canadian dental practice. It explains how dentistry is regulated by provincial and territorial colleges, with real differences between British Columbia's combined oral health college, Ontario's separate colleges and Quebec's Ordre, and how the Canadian Dental Association's Code of Ethics fits alongside college standards.
It sets out the ethical standards expected of dental professionals: honesty and integrity, confidentiality, competence and CPD, managing conflicts of interest in a fee-for-service model, and professional boundaries. It then applies them to dental decision-making, including informed consent and shared decisions, disclosure of errors, treatment planning and overtreatment, and access to care where cost is a barrier for many Indigenous, low-income, rural and older patients.
The final sections describe common breaches, how dental colleges investigate concerns, possible outcomes and their impact, and how reflection, insight and remediation support public protection and your own growth. It is written for dentists, hygienists, assistants and other dental professionals, including those responding to a complaint.
7 sections · 26 lessons · 2 hours (estimated) · 10-question final assessment
Final assessment
10scenario-based questions
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Each province and territory has its own regulator, such as the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta and the Ordre des dentistes du Québec. In British Columbia, the BC College of Oral Health Professionals has regulated dentists, hygienists, technicians and denturists together since 2022, now under the Health Professions and Occupations Act in force since 1 April 2026. The CDA Code is national guidance, not a regulator.
Yes. It explains how fee-for-service dentistry can create conflicts between revenue and clinical need, uses an Alberta general-practice scenario about production targets and the treatment plan, and covers overtreatment as a real ethical risk in treatment planning.
Yes. It is written for dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and the wider dental team. It notes that hygienists and other dental professionals are often regulated by their own colleges, such as the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario, so check your own college's standards.
Valid consent requires capacity, voluntariness and understanding of the treatment, its material risks and benefits, alternatives and costs. The course treats consent as shared decision-making and covers minors under the capacity-based approach.
Yes. Section 4.2 covers truth-telling and the duty of candour: informing the patient promptly, explaining, apologizing sincerely and setting out next steps, with apology legislation in most provinces protecting a sincere apology.
Section 5 explains how dental colleges investigate and the range of outcomes, and Section 6 covers reflection, insight and remediation options such as targeted CPD, mentorship or practice changes. Get advice from your liability insurer or lawyer as well.
A final assessment of 10 multiple-choice questions with an 80% pass mark, a reflective account and a certificate of completion. It takes about 2 hours online, costs CA$95, and your college decides what it accepts.
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: provincial and territorial health professions statutes, the regulatory colleges' standards and codes, and federal and provincial privacy law. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
Professionalism for dentists and dental teams in Canada: honest treatment planning and claims, communication, advertising, delegation, boundaries and responding to a college complaint.
Honest billing and fees under Canada's public and private funding: conflicts of interest, stewardship, audits and when an error becomes misconduct.
Valid consent, substitute decision-makers, adolescent consent, chaperones for intimate examinations and patient privacy, grounded in provincial law and college policy.
