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(Nick Pearce photos)

Students who want to study dental hygiene at Dalhousie University can now apply for admission to its new Bachelor of Dental Hygiene program in September 2025. The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC) approved the Faculty of Dentistry’s proposal for the change at its January 21, 2025 meeting in Fredericton.

The current Diploma in Dental Hygiene will now become a Bachelor of Dental Hygiene degree, and the current Bachelor of Dental Hygiene will become a Bachelor of Dental Hygiene with Honours. Apart from the names, nothing else will change. The length of the programs, tuition, and the way the programs are delivered will remain the same.

Director of the School of Dental Hygiene Dr. Leigha Rock explains that the current diploma program is comprehensive and rigorous and aligns with the credit and duration requirements of a standard bachelor’s degree at Dalhousie University. Likewise, the current Bachelor of Dental Hygiene program has been recognized as meeting the criteria for a Bachelor of Dental Hygiene with Honours.

"The changes," says Rock, "are simply about getting our graduates the credentials they have substantively earned. To offer a degree program also brings Dalhousie’s programs into line with other university-based dental hygiene programs across Canada."

The deadline for applications to the new dental hygiene programs for the 2025-26 academic year is February 15, 2025.