Regulation
In accordance with section 12(2) of the Health Professions Act, registrants are required to maintain compliance with the Dental Hygienists Regulation.
Dental Hygienists Regulation
1 - Definitions
In this regulation:
"dental hygiene" means the health profession in which a person provides the services of
(a) assessing the status of teeth and adjacent tissues, and
(b) providing preventive and therapeutic treatment for teeth and
adjacent tissues;
"dental hygiene diagnosis" means a clinical judgement made by a registrant of an individual's oral health condition to determine whether
(a) the condition can be ameliorated or resolved by services that the
registrant is authorized to provide, or
(b) consulatation with, or transfer of responsibility for care to,
another professional is necessary or appropriate;
“dentist” means a person who is authorized under the Act to practise the designated health profession of dentistry;
“prescription" has the same meaning as in the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act;
"substance" includes air and water but excludes a drug specified in Schedule I, IA, II or IV of the Drug Schedules Regulation.
2 - Designation
The name “College of Dental Hygienists of British Columbia” is the name of the college established under section 15(1) of the Health Professions Act for dental hygiene.
3 - Reserved Title
The title "dental hygienist" is reserved for exclusive use by registrants.
4 - Scope of Practice
A dental hygienist may practise dental hygiene.
5 - Restricted Activities
(1) A registrant in the course of practising dental hygiene may do all
of the following:
(a) make a dental hygiene diagnosis identifying gingivitis or
periodontitis as the cause of the signs or symptoms of an
individual;
(b) perform scaling, dental debridement or root planing on the
surfaces of the teeth for the purpose of preventing or treating
an oral health condition;
(c) administer a substance by irrigation for the purpose of
preventing or treating an oral health condition;
(d) reduce a complete dislocation of a temporomandibular joint
using manual therapy.
(2) If standards, limits or conditions have been established under
section 19 (1)(k) or (l) of the Act respecting the activity, a
registrant in the course of practising dental hygiene may, during
assessment and for diagnostic or imaging purposes, apply
(a) intra-oral X-rays, or
(b) extra-oral X-rays for the purpose of implementing an
authorization, issued by a person who is authorized under the
Act to apply extra-oral X-rays, to do so in respect of a named
individual.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), a registrant in the course of practising
dental hygiene may administer a drug specified in Schedule I or II
of the Drug Schedules Regulation for the purpose of
(a) treating an oral health condition, if administration is by
topical application or irrigation, or
(b) providing local anaesthesia,
(i) if administration is by injection or topical application,
and
(ii) if, before providing the service, the registrant has
successfully completed a certification program
established, required or approved under the bylaws to
ensure that registrants are qualified and competent to
provide that service.
(4) A registrant in the course of practising dental hygiene may not
administer a drug for which a prescription is required under the
Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act unless the
patient has a prescription for the drug.
(5) Only a registrant who is a dental hygienist may provide a service
that includes the performance of an activity set out in this
section.
6 - Limitations or conditions on services
(1) In this section, "private dental hygiene practice" means the
practice of dental hygiene in circumstances where, ordinarily, a
dentist is not on site or immediately available.
(2) A registrant who is a dental hygienist may not engage in private
dental hygiene practice unless standards, limits or conditions
respecting private dental hygiene practice have first been
established under section 19 (1) (k) or (l) of the Act.
(3) A registrant who engages in private dental hygiene practice must,
in the course of providing dental hygiene services to a patient,
recommend that the patient be examined by a dentist unless the
dental hygienist
(a) has reason to believe that the patient has recently been
examined by a dentist, or
(b) has recently recommended to the patient that the patient be
examined by a dentist.
(4) A registrant must not perform permanent restoration procedures.
(5) A registrant may perform the restricted activity described in
sections 5 (1) (d) only if dislocation occurs in the course of
practising dental hygiene.
7 - Patient Relations Program
The college is designated for the purposes of section 16 (2) (f) of the Health Professions Act.
8 - Health Profession Corporations
Part 4 of the Health Professions Act applies to dental hygiene.
[en. B.C. Reg.276/2008.]
[Provisions of the Health Professions Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 183, relevant to the enactment of this regulation: section 12 (2)]