Renewal FAQs

Renewal is open September 6 until 11:59 pm MT, October 31.

Registrants who do not have a complete and approved Renewal application by 11:59 pm MT on October 31 will have their permit suspended and they will not be able to practice dental hygiene. Practicing dental hygiene in Alberta without a valid practice permit is considered unprofessional conduct and may result in misconduct fines.

Typically, an individual will apply once to become a registered dental hygienist on the ACDH Register. Dental hygienists are required to apply for a renewed practice permit through ACDH’s renewal process prior to October 31^st every year, regardless of when an application was approved.

For example, a registrant whose application was approved on October 1^st would still need to apply for renewal prior to October 31^st of the same year.

Once your renewal application has been filled out completely, your payment has gone through, and you have clicked “Submit” to submit it, College staff will receive your renewal application for review. After staff have reviewed your Renewal application, you will receive either:

Registrants who do not have a complete and approved application by 11:59 pm MT on October 31 will not be able to practice dental hygiene. Practicing dental hygiene in Alberta without a valid practice permit may result in misconduct fines.

Your new practice permit will be available as soon as your Renewal application is approved. Click the "Print My Practice Permit" link on the right hand side of any tab in the Portal.

There is a separate form for registrants wishing to cancel their registration with the College. Do not fill out the Renewal form.

The College does not provide a formal maternity leave option. The options for registrants when going on maternity leave are:

• to renew on the General Register as usual. This means that there will be no interruption to your three year reporting cycle, so please consider whether you will meet your required 600 Practice Hours and 45 CE Credits by the end of your three year cycle. You can see your three year reporting cycle ends in the Registrant Database by clicking on the Continuing Competence tab. Your reporting period will be listed at the top of the page.
• to renew as Non-Practicing. This means paying $115 for your Non-Practicing renewal fee. If you are on maternity leave for longer than a year, you will have a new three year reporting cycle when you apply to transfer back to the General Register. It is important to note that there is an application process to transfer from Non-Practicing back to the General Register. Read through the Reinstatement and Transfer page to carefully to help inform your decision.

Please note that effective November 1, 2024, the College will no longer have a Non-Practicing Register. Read more about the decision to remove the Non-Practicing Register. Registrants who switch to the Non-Practicing Register for the 2023-2024 permit year will need to either transfer back onto the General Register or cancel their practice permit by October 31, 2024.

Council requires that registrants with a valid practice permit must complete and maintain current CPR certification for health care providers. CPR certification training must be obtained at the level required by the Council as outlined in the CPR Policy. Please read this policy carefully. CPR courses delivered in an online-only format are not in compliance with this policy.

You will be asked to verify that your most recent CPR issue date is correct in the Renewal form. If your most recent CPR certification has been entered correctly in the Registrant Portal, it should auto-populate in the Renewal Form with the correct issue date.

If your most recent CPR certification is not showing up in the Renewal form, go to the Continuing Competence tab in the Registrant Portal to ensure that:

• Your most recent CPR entry is listed under the 4.1 Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) sub-category, and;
• You have only entered one CPR course per permit year (November 1 to October 31). 

Click the pencil icon at the end of the row to make any necessary edits or delete any duplicate entries. You may need to scroll across your screen to see this button. If your CPR entry was entered in the wrong category, you can edit the category it was submitted under in the Continuing Competence editing form.

Then, re-open your Renewal form to confirm that your CPR entry is now auto-populating properly.

Additional Resources:

• Continuing Competence FAQ
• CPR Policy

You can view, edit, and add to your employment information by clicking on the Employment tab in the Registrant Portal. To edit an existing entry, click the blue pencil icon on the right-hand side of the employment table. You may need to scroll across your screen to see this part of the table. To add a new employment record, click the “Add Employment Information” link in the box on the right-hand side of the page.

For registrants who work in a variety of clinical settings on a temporary basis through an agency, enter the information for the agency as the employer information. Select “Temp/Casual” as the Employment Category.” When you have filled out all of the required information in the form, click “Submit”.

For registrants who work in a variety of clinical settings on a temporary basis independently (e.g. through social media postings), enter your own information as the “employer” and select “Temp/Casual” or “Contractor,” depending on which category most accurately describes your employment arrangement.

For registrants who work in a variety of clinical settings and work for any on an ongoing, casual or contracted basis, enter the employer’s information and select “Temp/Casual” or “Contractor,” depending on which category most accurately describes your employment arrangement.

For more detailed instructions on updating and adding employment records, read the Registrant Portal How-To Guide.

Please note that even if you are engaged in temporary employment and frequently work at different locations, the College may ask for your current employer at any time. Registrants are required to provide this information upon request. It is the responsibility of each registrant to keep comprehensive employment records.

Some registrants have noticed that their educational records in the Registrant Portal are either incorrect or missing.

An application for renewal that is initially submitted to the College after 11:59 pm on October 14th will be subject to an administrative fee. An application for renewal that is not completed and approved by the College by 11:59 pm on October 31st will be subject to a 20% late fee.

Ensure that you have turned off any pop-up blockers in your browser before you begin your Renewal form.

When you have completed filling out all required information in the Renewal form, you will be required to submit your form, which will open up a payment page in a new window. If pop-up blockers are turned on in your browser, your Renewal form will be submitted without payment. Renewal forms submitted without payment will not be reviewed by College staff until payment has been received.

If you submit a Renewal form without payment:

• Go to your Registrant Portal and click on the “Payment Summary” tab at the top.
• You see a red button that says “Click to Pay”. Click on that button and a payment window will open.
• Complete the steps in the payment window.

General registrants are required to accumulate a minimum of 600 Practice Hours during their 3-year reporting period.

You will be required to enter your practice hours for the current permit year (November 1, 2022 – October 31, 2023) in the Renewal form. It is the responsibility of each registrant to keep track of their practice hours and submit an accurate total each year.

Estimate the total number of hours you expect to work between November 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. You will need to enter practice hours for each dental hygiene practice role you work in. The number you enter for each role will be the sum of the number of hours you have already worked in the current permit year and an estimation of the number of hours you expect to work between the date of submitting your Renewal application and October 31. See below for examples.

If you need to edit your previously submitted Practice Hours, a form is available in the Portal to request a change. Please note that your Practice Hours will not be automatically updated once you submit the form. Once the requested change is approved by College staff, you will see the new number reflected in the Portal.

Once you have logged into the Registrant Portal, click the Practice Hours tab next to the Continuing Competence tab. Your Practice Hours will be listed here if you have previously submitted hours within your current reporting period.

Your Professional Liability Insurance must meet the minimum requirements listed in the Professional Liability Insurance Policy. This includes having full coverage for the permit year of November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024 with no gaps.