Overview

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) is the governing body for dentists in Ontario. Our mission is to protect the public’s right to quality dental services by providing leadership to the dental profession in self-regulation. The College believes that self-regulation must be open, responsive, accessible, equitable, and accountable to bring about safe, effective, and ethical dental care in Ontario. Trust is the key.

The public trusts dentists to set and monitor their own professional standards. In return, dentists must give their patients high-quality dental care. The nearly 8,000 dentists in general and specialty practice in Ontario place a very high value on professionalism. They are committed to ensuring that the public receives high-quality, ethical care. That is why the safe care of patients by dentists is at the heart of everything the College does.

One of the highest priorities of the College is to support this culture of professionalism. The College does this in a number of ways:

• Sets the qualifications for entering the profession.

• Registers each dentist who practises in Ontario to ensure his or her fitness to practice.

• Develops programs to ensure that dentists keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date and to promote high standards of dental education.

• Oversees the professional and ethical behaviour of all dentists in

• Develops professional and ethical standards and guidelines.

Patients must be able to put their trust in dentists. Dentists themselves rank this as one of the profession’s highest priorities. In fact, the College is totally funded by the dues paid by each dentist in the province. Dentists believe that it is important for the profession to demonstrate that they deserve that trust.