Public Consultations

Many Ontarians face barriers in accessing oral health care, and we believe this issue must be addressed. 

Access to Care is a key priority for the College and is one of six strategic projects in the RCDSO’s 2023-2025 Strategic Plan.

We are seeking your feedback to help inform the development of two new documents:

• A standard of practice to set out dentists’ legal, professional and ethical obligations when accepting new patients into their practices; and
• A professionalism guide to set out the values, principles and duties dentists have as professionals.

Once the new documents are drafted, RCDSO Council will consider releasing them for external consultation.

Your participation is important

Send us an email or complete our online survey by April 21, 2024.

Click here to download a PDF list of the survey questions.

We will carefully review all comments and use your feedback in the development of the new draft documents.

Thank you for participating!

Dental practice models are the types of operational or business arrangements in which dentistry is practised. Dentists and the public have raised questions about the care provided through different practice models, including emerging models such as corporate dentistry and direct-to-consumer dentistry.

For this reason, the College has committed to ‘Practice Models and Corporate Dentistry’ as a three-year Strategic Project under the Emerging Issues pillar of the College’s 2023-25 Strategic Plan (more detailed information about the project can also be found here).

 The objectives for this strategic project are:

• to better understand dental practice models that are operating in Ontario
• to identify issues and opportunities related to various dental practice models, including corporate dentistry
• to develop options to promote and assure quality of care and ensure effective regulation of dentists regardless of practice model type.

Tell us what you think

We are seeking your feedback to better understand dentists’, patients’, and other interested parties’ experiences and opinions concerning dental practice models in Ontario. Key findings and options identified through this project will be presented in a research report which will be shared with Council to support decision-making and published online.

Complete the survey here or send us an e-mail by June 3, 2024. You can click here to download a PDF with all the survey questions.

The survey should take approximately 15 to 25 minutes to complete. All individual responses will remain anonymous.

If you have any questions, please email consultations@rcdso.org.

Thank you for participating!

This consultation is now closed.

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) has drafted regulation amendments that will create a new emergency class certificate of registration.

Tell us what you think by reviewing the draft regulation amendments and responding to a short survey.

Background

In an effort to bolster Ontario’s health workforce and improve health resource planning in emergency situations, the Provincial Government has enacted the Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act, 2022. 

Under this Act, the Ministry is requiring all of Ontario’s health regulatory Colleges to develop a new emergency class certificate of registration, with the aim of reducing barriers for new applicants in emergency situations (e.g., in response to a new pandemic).

The introduction of a new class of licensure requires Colleges to amend existing regulations governing membership registration.

In keeping with the Ministry’s requirements, RCDSO has developed draft amendments to its current Registration Regulation and is circulating those draft amendments for public consultation.

Details concerning the proposed emergency class certificate of registration can be found in the draft regulation, but some key highlights include the following:

• the emergency class of registration will only be open for registration in limited circumstances: if either the Provincial Government requests it or RCDSO Council decides that it is in the public interest to open the class to address emergency circumstances;
• there are specific requirements that individuals must fulfill in order to be eligible for an emergency class of licensure, along with requirements for oversight and monitoring to ensure appropriate public protections once an applicant is registered; and
• emergency certificates of registration expire when Council declares the emergency situation over.

How to comment

The Ministry has required that these regulations be approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council by August 31, 2023.

In order to meet this timeline, RCDSO is moving quickly. We are inviting feedback on the draft regulation for the mandatory 60-day consultation period, with a deadline of March 24, 2023.

All feedback can be provided via this survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JQHSD7L

Your feedback is important to us, and all comments will be carefully reviewed and used to help evaluate the draft.

Thank you for participating!

This consultation is now closed.

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario has drafted a new draft Standard of Practice on Virtual Care (also known as “teledentistry”). We have also developed a separate FAQ resource as a companion to the Standard. 

Tell us what you think by reviewing the draft Standard and FAQs and emailing us or responding to our online survey. 

Why we developed a new Standard 

The growing use of technology to deliver dental care remotely has prompted questions regarding the legal, professional and ethical considerations when dentists provide virtual care. In response, RCDSO Council struck a Working Group to develop a Standard of Practice in 2019. Their initial work helped inform the development of RCDSO’s COVID-19: Guidance for the Use of Teledentistry in 2020.  

The Working Group has now developed a new draft Standard of Practice on Virtual Care with the intention of replacing the COVID-19-specific guidance document with this permanent Standard. 

Tell us what you think 

We want you to help us refine the new Standard of Practice on Virtual Care. The draft sets out the requirements that Ontario dentists must adhere to when:  

• assessing the appropriateness of virtual care;  
• providing virtual care; and 
• providing virtual care across borders. 

The requirements will help ensure the delivery of safe, effective and quality dental care that is in the patient’s best interest. 

We also want to know what you think of the draft FAQ we developed to provide additional information and guidance on virtual care (e.g., on consultations and referrals, cross-border virtual care and liability protection). 

We are interested to know whether: 

• The expectations set out in the draft Standard clear and reasonable 
• All issues that should be addressed are considered in the draft Standard or FAQs 
• The FAQs provide useful information and guidance 

How to comment 

Send us an email or complete our online survey (click here to download the PDF list of questions). 

Your feedback is important to us. We carefully review all comments and use your feedback to help evaluate the drafts. RCDSO Council will ultimately determine what revisions will be made when finalizing and approving the Standard of Practice. 

Please provide your feedback by August 25, 2023. 

Thank you for participating! 

At its September 21, 2023 meeting, the Council of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario approved by-law amendments in principle to the RCDSO’s fees bylaw related to the new emergency class of registration.  

The proposed amendments would enable the College to: 

• Require emergency class registrants to pay an annual fee of $1,000. Registrants would also be subject to a $1,000 annual fee in each year thereafter, if the emergency persists and their certificate is renewed. 
• Waive the application fee for emergency class registrants applying for full licensure post-emergency.

Registrants will also be required to pay a $150 application fee. This amount is consistent with other RCDSO short duration certificates of registration.  

The emergency class regulation, approved by Council and in force as of August 31, 2023, includes an exemption for application fees for emergency class registrants wishing to apply for full licensure within three years post-emergency.   

To enable the waiver of this application fee, Council has approved bylaw amendments in principle to include an exemption for applicants transitioning to full licensure from the emergency class.   

Read the proposed by-law amendments. 

How to comment

Your input is important; please send any comments to consultations@rcdso.org no later than November 24, 2023.

A final version of the by-laws, including any revisions made as a result of your feedback, will be brought to Council at its December 2023 meeting for approval. 

Thank you for participating!

This consultation is now closed.

The Professional Liability Program (PLP) has provided assistance to Ontario dentists for over 50 years. PLP staff and RCDSO Council members have been dedicated to the promotion of patient safety and responsible dentistry. In 2022, RCDSO Council established an Expert Review Task Force to review the PLP program, outline any risks and recommend options to mitigate these risks.

The Task Force developed a report which was presented to Council on September 21^st for discussion and deliberation. The Task Force identified several risks with the PLP program, foremost among them reputational, regulatory and financial. After considerable discussion and debate, Council directed staff to explore the option of divesting from direct ownership and operation of PLP.

We need your input

We are asking all members to please complete a short survey to identify your views on the elements of PLP, and what you consider important as we explore the divestment process. You are encouraged to complete the survey, whether or not you have had any experience with PLP.

The survey can be completed in 5 minutes and can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZKLH8N6

It will be open for two weeks, closing on November 16^th so that the results can be included at the December 7^th Council meeting.

If you have any further questions, visit the PLP information page which includes a link to frequently asked questions and the Expert Task Force Report.

This consultation is now closed.

At its December 7, 2023 meeting, Council approved, in principle, changes to By-law 28.2 (Additional Information on the Public Register).

Review the proposed changes. 

The College's Governance Committee proposed these by-law amendments, which include adding the registrant’s electoral district to the public register.  The registrant’s electoral district is the electoral district in which the registrant is eligible to vote and stand for election. Displaying each registrant’s electoral district on the public register will enable registrants to self-search their electoral district and improve transparency.

How to comment

Your input is important; please send any comments to elections@rcdso.org no later than February 12, 2024.

A final version of the by-laws, including any revisions made as a result of your feedback, will be brought to Council at its March 2024 meeting for approval. 

Thank you for participating!