In Alberta you graduate from an approved dental hygiene program, pass the NDHCE and the Alberta College of Dental Hygienists jurisprudence exam, and hold general registration and a practice permit before you practise.
Applies in: Alberta
Written November 13, 2026
Graduate from an approved dental hygiene program, pass the national examination and the College's jurisprudence examination, then apply to the Alberta College of Dental Hygienists for general registration and a practice permit. Registration in Alberta is mandatory, the application fee is $350, and the practice permit fee is $350 if you apply within 12 months of graduation or $599 if you apply later.
Alberta's route has a feature the national guides flatten out: the College distinguishes sharply between its one Council-approved program and every other program. Which side of that line your education sits on decides which application pathway you follow, so settle that question first.
The College's page for Council-approved graduates states that the University of Alberta Dental Hygiene Program is currently the only Council-approved program, under section 3(1) of the Dental Hygienists Profession Regulation. The College's information for other graduates adds that a Council-approved program is required to teach to the full scope of practice in Alberta, and that the University of Alberta program serves as the benchmark program of study for all applicants for registration.
That does not close the door to graduates of other programs. The College runs separate published pathways for new graduates of programs that are not Council-approved, including programs accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC) or the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), and separate information again for hygienists already registered in another jurisdiction. What it does mean is that you should not assume the checklist on this page is your checklist. The College directs applicants to the Choosing the Pathway that Applies to You section of its new graduate information, and that choice should be made before the application form is opened, because the form cannot be saved and must be completed in one sitting.
Whichever pathway applies, the legal frame is the same. The College states that any person involved in the practice of dental hygiene in Alberta must comply with the Health Professions Act, the Health Professions Restricted Activity Regulation, and the Dental Hygienists Profession Regulation, and that a person must hold general registration and a practice permit whether they practise as a practice owner, employee, contractor, or volunteer — even if it is just for one day.
Successful completion of the National Dental Hygiene Certification Examination (NDHCE) is required under section 3 of the Dental Hygienists Profession Regulation, and a copy of the NDHCE certificate must be uploaded in the application form. The examination is the national one administered for dental hygiene regulators across Canada; Alberta's requirement is that you have passed it and can prove it with the certificate.
Sequencing matters because of the permit fee, covered in Step 4: the lower new-graduate permit fee runs from graduation, not from the examination date. An applicant who drifts past 12 months after graduation before applying pays the higher fee, so the examination, the jurisprudence modules, and the document gathering should be planned as one run, not as separate projects spread over a year.
Alberta adds three items that a national guide will not list for you, and all three must be in hand before the application is complete.
The first is the College's own jurisprudence step. All applicants for registration on the General or Courtesy Registers must complete the ACDH Jurisprudence Modules and Examination, which are available on the Applicant Portal, and upload the jurisprudence exam completion certificate in the application.
The second is the Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse and Misconduct e-learning course, also available on the Portal. Its completion certificate is required for new graduates, currently practising applicants, and courtesy applicants alike.
The third is the supporting evidence set: current CPR certification that meets the College's requirements, professional liability insurance that meets the College's requirements, and two valid pieces of government-issued identification. Each item is uploaded in the online application form in the Applicant Portal, and each has a College standard attached to it, so use the versions and coverage the College's registration policy describes rather than whatever document happens to be in your files.
The application is made on the College's current online form. The College warns that the application form cannot be saved and must be completed in one sitting, and that applications left incomplete for six months without updates or responses will be closed.
The fees stated in the College's new graduate information are an application fee of $350 for all applications, a practice permit fee of $350 for new graduates applying within 12 months of graduation, and $599 for new graduates applying more than 12 months after graduation. Fees are paid in Canadian funds through the online application process, and the application fee is non-refundable. When an application for registration is approved, the applicant must pay the permit fee before the College can enter their name on the General Register and issue a unique registration number and practice permit. All fees are non-refundable and not pro-rated.
The College states that the process generally takes four weeks after an application is made complete, but may take longer if additional information is required or if an application is received between August and November, which is the College's annual renewal period.
Alongside the uploads, three documents must reach the College directly. An official transcript must be sent directly from the institution, or through an online document provider such as MyCreds. A vulnerable sector check, completed within one year from the date the application is made complete, must be provided to the College. And a Verification of Registration, Certification, or Licensure form must be sent directly from the regulatory college in each jurisdiction where you have been registered, where that applies. Official English language test scores, where necessary, are also sent directly from the testing service.
The application also carries good character and fitness to practise declarations, primary language information, information about any advanced restricted activities you may be eligible to apply for, and your full name entered as an electronic signature agreeing to the statutory declaration.
General registration alone is not the working credential — the practice permit is. The College's rule is that permits must be renewed on or before October 31 annually, regardless of when an application was made. A permit issued in the spring and a permit issued in the fall share the same renewal date.
Build that date into your first year of practice. Renewal sits inside the College's Registration and Practice Permit Renewal Policy, which the College strongly advises all applicants to read before and during the registration process, along with the Registration Information for New Graduates document and the Initial Registration Application Checklist. Those three documents, not a summary, are the controlling text for currency, continuing competence, and renewal conditions.
The College pages opened for this guide state the application fee, the two new-graduate practice permit fees, and the general four-week processing time after an application is made complete. They do not state tuition for the University of Alberta program or any other program; tuition is set by the institution, and this guide carries no program cost figures and no wage figures.
| Application fee, all applications | $350, non-refundable |
|---|---|
| Practice permit fee, new graduates applying within 12 months of graduation | $350 |
| Practice permit fee, new graduates applying more than 12 months after graduation | $599 |
Fees are from the College's registration information for new graduates of accredited dental hygiene programs. All fees are non-refundable. Practice permits must be renewed on or before October 31 annually.
The Alberta College of Dental Hygienists (ACDH). Registration is mandatory: any person involved in the practice of dental hygiene in Alberta must comply with the Health Professions Act, the Health Professions Restricted Activity Regulation, the Dental Hygienists Profession Regulation, and the College's registration process. A person must hold general registration and a practice permit whether they practise as an owner, employee, contractor, or volunteer, even for one day.
The University of Alberta Dental Hygiene Program is currently the only Council-approved program in Alberta, and the College uses it as the benchmark program of study for all applicants. A Council-approved program is required to teach to the full scope of practice in Alberta. Graduates of programs that are not Council-approved follow a different College pathway, so check which pathway applies to you before you apply.
Two. Successful completion of the National Dental Hygiene Certification Examination (NDHCE) is required, and a copy of the NDHCE certificate must be uploaded in the application. All applicants for registration on the General or Courtesy Registers must also complete the Alberta College of Dental Hygienists Jurisprudence Modules and Examination, available on the Applicant Portal, and upload the completion certificate.
The application fee is $350 for all applications and is non-refundable. The practice permit fee for new graduates applying within 12 months of graduation is $350; for new graduates applying more than 12 months after graduation it is $599. When an application is approved, the permit fee must be paid before the College can enter your name on the General Register and issue a registration number and practice permit.
The College's checklist includes the completion certificate for the Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse and Misconduct e-learning course, evidence of current CPR certification, evidence of professional liability insurance, two valid pieces of government-issued identification, and good character and fitness to practise declarations. You must also arrange for an official transcript to be sent directly from your institution and for a vulnerable sector check to be provided to the College.
Practice permits must be renewed on or before October 31 annually, regardless of when the application was first made. The College's new graduate information states that timing directly, so a permit issued partway through the year still comes up for renewal on the same October 31 date.