Definitions

1   In this regulation:

"Act" means the Health Professions Act;

"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 judgment 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) consultation with, or transfer of responsibility for care to, another health 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.

[am. B.C. Reg. 32/2020, Sch. 1, s. 1.]

College name

2   The name of the college responsible for carrying out the objects of the Act in respect of dental hygiene is "British Columbia College of Oral Health Professionals".

[en. B.C. Reg. 172/2022, Sch. 1.]

Reserved title

3   The title "dental hygienist" is reserved for exclusive use by registrants.

Scope of practice

4   A dental hygienist may practise dental hygiene.

[en. B.C. Reg. 32/2020, Sch. 1, s. 2.]

Restricted activities

5   (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 oral 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.

[en. B.C. Reg. 32/2020, Sch. 1, s. 2.]

Limits or conditions on services

6   (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 section 5 (1) (d) only if dislocation occurs in the course of practising dental hygiene.

[en. B.C. Reg. 32/2020, Sch. 1, s. 2.]

Patient relations program

7   The college is designated for the purposes of section 16 (2) (f) of the Act.

Health profession corporations

8   Part 4 of the Act applies to dental hygiene.