Dental Hygiene, Diploma

In demand

As a dental hygienist, you’ll be part of an oral health care team that provides professional treatment and advice to help people prevent or halt existing dental diseases and support total wellness. This full-time, two-year program prepares you to be a health promotion specialist on an oral health care team as well as a competent clinician and community health advocate (accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada).

Over the last two years, 100% of Camosun's Dental Hygiene program graduates were employed in a job related to their program.

Hands-on learning

In a small classroom environment and within the live clinic environment, you’ll acquire the knowledge and skills needed to provide preventative, educational and therapeutic dental hygiene services. You’ll also learn to evaluate research, communicate professionally and practice collaboratively with dentists and other health care professionals. 

Our faculty is made up of talented and dedicated professionals with advanced degrees in education or dental hygiene.

We’ll help you succeed

The Diploma in Dental Hygiene provides the educational foundation you’ll need to succeed in the increasingly complex field of oral health. Dental hygienists work in a number of settings including general and specialty dental offices, dental hygiene clinics, residential care facilities, hospitals, community health agencies and educational institutions. Dental hygienists also work within the dental industry as educators and sales representatives.

The two-year Dental Hygiene program follows a foundational year of university transfer courses.

Community learning

You’ll have opportunities to provide education and care to local community groups. On a broader scale, you’ll also make connections with dental hygiene students from other countries who visit our Dental Hygiene program. There are also opportunities to travel within BC and abroad in order to study and provide care and education.

Transfer opportunities

Continuing your education is easy as the diploma program transfers directly into three degree programs which require one additional year of study to obtain a baccalaureate degree.  First, Camosun College has been approved to offer the Bachelor of Science Dental Hygiene program and plans to begin offering this in September 2025; you will be fully eligible for this program as a graduate of the dental hygiene program at Camosun. 

You can also complete a Baccalaureate Degree of Science in Dental Hygiene in one year at the University of British Columbia or the University of Alberta or obtain a Bachelor of Health Sciences at Thompson Rivers.

To find out more about the dental hygiene profession, check out the British Columbia Dental Hygienists Association.