Standards Review and Development Process

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario has a formal and thorough review and development process for all new and revised Standards of Practice and other relevant resources.

Beginning in 2023, we are implementing process improvements to ensure that our Standards' review and development process is comprehensive, evidence-informed, transparent, and inclusive.

These process improvements reflect best practices for health regulators and include the following elements (as examples):

• Regular review of existing Standards and other documents to ensure they are clear, comprehensive, up-to-date and reflect the standard of practice of the profession
• Use of standard development criteria to evaluate new and emerging issues
• Foundational research, including the review of published clinical literature
• Transparent external consultation involving subject matter experts, dentists, patients and the public (see our Public Consultations page for more information)
• The adoption of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles.

Final decisions concerning the content of RCDSO Standards and other Resources are made by College Council with input from the College’s Quality Assurance Committee.