Graduate dental hygiene educational opportunities have been available in the United States (US) since the early 1960s whereas, until recently, those opportunities did not exist in Canada. Although the profession of dental hygiene in Canada has now surpassed the US in terms of self-regulation and independent practice, educational opportunities at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels here have been slow to arrive. There are now 2 entry-level Bachelor of Science (dental hygiene) programs in Canada: 1 at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and 1 at the University of Alberta (U of A). In addition, there are 4 degree-completion opportunities spread across the country (UBC, U of A, University of Manitoba, and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia).
Salme E Lavigne
Jeanie Suvan
Although numerous dental hygienists have obtained master’s degrees over the past few decades, those degrees have been primarily in other disciplines, ranging from education to psychology, anthropology, and even philosophy. Some master’s degree programs that are more closely related to our discipline, such as craniofacial sciences (UBC) and oral biology (University of Manitoba), are also options for dental hygienists. Very few dental hygienists have master’s degrees in dental hygiene specifically and those who do obtained them in the US.
Over the years, we have heard many dental hygienists state that holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees in disciplines other than dental hygiene broadens their education while specific discipline-based degrees are self-limiting. We must argue with this train of thought. Allow us to pose the following hypothetical question: “If you were studying to be a chemist, would you feel that you were receiving the best education from a professor who had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, followed by a master’s degree in psychology and a PhD in education?” Although that may seem like an absurdity, such a scenario may very well hold true for dental hygiene students in Canada and around the world. So many of our exceptional educators have a diploma or a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene but a master’s degree or higher in a less-related discipline.
Advancement, self-regulation, and independence of a profession depend on having as many graduates as possible with the highest level of education within that discipline. The expertise acquired and shared by those graduates makes them natural leaders both within and for the profession in the broader health care community. Not having access to a master’s degree in dental hygiene in Canada has been a handicap for our profession. The good news, however, is that a Master of Science program specifically in dental hygiene was approved in 2014 by the University of Alberta and has 7 graduates to date, with another 3 students in progress. This program is research based, rather than clinically based, requiring students to complete several didactic courses, undertake original research, and write a thesis.
There are also international opportunities for dental hygienists who wish to pursue education outside Canada. Unfortunately, this option often involves additional living expenses and limitations on working while studying. Addressing both these issues through online studies, coupled with 1 to 2 weeks per year required onsite at the university, is a new part-time Master of Science program in dental hygiene offered by the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London (UCL), England. Established by a Canadian dental hygienist, Jeanie Suvan, who is a graduate of the University of Alberta and a member of this journal’s editorial board, the UCL program allows students to work and study in their own environment. As a result, it brings together dental hygienists from various international locations. In addition, the UCL program overcomes many of the previous barriers faced by dental hygienists when considering further education, such as the requirement to have a Bachelor of Science for entry. The UCL program assesses each applicant’s dental hygiene diploma education and, in most cases, will allow direct entry into the master’s program without having to do a bachelor’s degree completion.
We encourage anyone with an interest in graduate dental hygiene education to consider the excellent programs at either the University of Alberta or University College London. For further information about these 2 master’s degree opportunities, please visit their websites at:
If [one] empties [their] purse into [their] head, no one can take it from [them]. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
—Benjamin Franklin