Admission criteria for Canadian dental hygiene programs

The purpose of this project was to understand the variation in admission criteria to Canadian dental hygiene programs and determine whether the criteria are appropriate in predicting a program's success rate on the National Dental Hygiene Certification Exam (NDHCE).

Admission criteria were gathered from the websites of English-language dental hygiene programs in Canada. Individual dental hygiene programs were also contacted directly by phone or email if their admission criteria were not outlined on the program website. NDHCE success rates for each program were collected from the National Dental Hygiene Certification Board website. The association between the admission criteria and NDHCE success rates was examined. Pearson's product moment correlations were performed for post-secondary credits required for admission and program length.

Admission criteria for 29 of 30 dental hygiene programs were examined. Twenty-two programs accepted applicants directly from high school. The average program length was 83.7 weeks. Four programs offered post-diploma baccalaureate degrees in dental hygiene; one program offered a direct entry-to-practice degree program. Twenty-two (22) of the 29 programs utilized academic grades (including overall and/or prerequisite GPA) as admission criteria. Twelve programs included interviews in the admission process. A moderate correlation was observed between the number of postsecondary credits required for admission and NDHCE success rates (r = 0.6723). A weak correlation was found between program length and NDHCE success rates (r = 0.1797).

Academic performance as an admission criterion, including overall/prerequisite GPA, was the most common criterion used by dental hygiene programs. Graduates from programs that required more postsecondary credits tended to perform better on the NDHCE. The higher success rate may be attributed to the rigour of the prerequisite courses, which may prepare students for dental hygiene studies and ultimately success on the national examination. In addition, students with more postsecondary coursework may be better adjusted to studies at a postsecondary level and/or be more experienced at taking examinations.