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2024-25 Annual Report

Over the past year, we have made significant progress toward our vision to champion regulatory excellence, innovation, and trust among our communities. Our Annual Report highlights many of the milestones achieved in pursuit of that goal, in addition to current registration and conduct statistics.

Upholding Our Values

We are sharing these stories to offer further insight into how we upheld our values of being accountable, ethical, inclusive and innovative, while guiding safe, ethical dental assisting care.

Clarifying our role through connection
Education and engagement are essential to effective regulation.

Cultivating leadership in Alberta’s dental assistants through multi-year workshop series
Leadership often begins with a shift in how you see yourself as a professional.

Helping dental assistants meet their professional responsibilities
The College’s Regulatory Compliance Advisors are here to help.

Leading by learning to strengthen how we regulate
Improving and enhancing how we work is part of our culture.

Clarifying our role through connection

We know regulation can be complex. The language can be confusing and the processes are sometimes hard to navigate. That’s why education and engagement are essential to effective regulation.

It’s also why we’re continuing to proactively clarify our role, processes and key responsibilities as the regulator of Alberta’s dental assisting profession.

“Meaningful engagement work is important for the College because we can’t regulate in isolation,” says the College’s Registrar & CEO, Jennifer Tewes. “We need strong relationships with the public, dental assistants, the patients they serve, as well as the other oral health regulators in Alberta and all our stakeholders.”

Building understanding through workshops

One way we’re engaging meaningfully is through more direct and transparent conversations, like through our College Connect, virtual town hall sessions. In September 2024, we hosted a College Connect to provide updates on Council decisions, changes to practice requirements and a refresher on the College’s role. These sessions, held as needed throughout the year, create space for open dialogue with dental assistants so they can ask questions and connect with our staff in real time.

In addition to College Connect, we continued to offer a range of virtual workshops including our ongoing Continuing Competence Program (CCP) sessions, aimed at supporting dental assistants who are new to the profession, returning to practice or looking for a refresher.

We also hosted our final Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders session in the spring focused on promoting leadership, equity and inclusion in dental assisting practice.

All our workshops are an opportunity to connect and build understanding. To share what the requirements are, but also to highlight why they matter for safe, ethical dental assisting practice.

Starting socials to stay connected

Our recent communications review made it clear that the College needed a presence on social media as an avenue to communicate key updates.

In March 2025, we launched accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and since then, we’ve grown to nearly 900 followers across platforms. Early content included explainer videos about the College’s role, posts breaking down registration pathways, the patient relations requirements, and invitations to participate in the 2025 strategic planning survey.

“We recognize that people learn and engage in different ways,” says the College’s Communications Manager & Hearings Director, Carol Collison. “Social media is another channel we’re building to connect with the public and dental assistants. It gives us space to break down complex processes, share timely updates and continue building awareness of the College’s role.”

Collaborating with educators

Engagement with Alberta’s dental assisting educators remains a key part of our work to support public protection.

“We also hold an annual dental assisting program meeting. We discuss what’s coming up in regulation, go through curriculum challenges and talk about ways we can meet new graduate needs,” says April Slotsve, the College’s Education and Practice Director and Privacy Officer.

This in-person meeting fosters strong relationships with program leaders and ensures alignment between regulatory expectations and curriculum development.

The College’s team also participated in ten dental assisting program advisory committee meetings this year. These meetings bring together educators, institutional representatives and often employers to discuss education trends, regulatory updates and graduate preparedness.

These conversations strengthen our connection with those supporting students in both classroom and clinical settings to make sure new graduates are well-prepared for their role as regulated professionals.

Bringing our communities together

Recognizing that patients are usually treated by a team of oral health care professionals, we are doing more to ensure regulatory alignment within the team for the delivery of safe, quality oral health care.

In September 2024, we brought together the five colleges that regulate the professionals who provide oral health care to Albertans. Alongside representatives from the public and government, participants discussed and learned about public interest.

Tewes shared, "This was a valuable opportunity to explore ways we can collaborate to engage with the public and position ourselves for the evolution of public interest."

Other engagement highlights

Some of the other key highlights from the past year include:

Nearly 2,000 inquiries responded to by the College’s Regulatory Compliance Advisor (RCA) team, including 827 related to registration and 261 about the Continuing Competence Program (CCP).
39 classroom sessions delivered to dental assisting students across Alberta, including 16 welcome presentations and 23 registration-focused sessions.

All of our efforts over the past year, and those still to come, are focused on opening more doors for dialogue and meeting stakeholders where they are. We’re working to break down complex processes and clarify our role as the public interest regulator of Alberta’s dental assisting profession.

Because ultimately, meaningful regulation is built on trust, and trust is built through connection. As Registrar & CEO Jennifer Tewes reflects, “If our communities are heard and seen by us and they feel connected to our work, they will in turn trust us and help us in our work.”

Cultivating leadership in Alberta’s dental assistants through multi-year workshop series

Leadership doesn’t need to start with a title. It often begins with a question, a conversation or a shift in how you see your role as a professional. Over the past four years, Council and committee members, and dental assistants across Alberta embraced this idea through the College’s Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders workshops.

Launched in 2021, the Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders initiative offered space for dental assistants to reflect, grow and lead with purpose. Through workshops focused on cultural safety, self-awareness and practical leadership skills, participants explored what it means to lead in everyday moments, at the chair, in their teams and in their communities.

Those serving in Council and committee roles, or aspiring to, also drew on what they learned at the workshops when setting standards and making decisions for the profession.

Nurturing leadership in everyday practice

The roots of this work trace back to Susan vander Heide, the College’s Operations and Complaints Director. She helped lead the implementation of the multi-year project, which concluded this year, and describes its original vision as one rooted in building confidence, fostering allyship and encouraging everyday leadership in safe, patient-centred care.

“Dental assisting is a supportive profession, so we don’t diagnose, we don’t treatment plan. We carry out procedures based on somebody else’s diagnosis and treatment plan,” she notes. “So that often results in dental assistants not feeling like they have a voice.”

Having started her own career as a dental assistant, Susan brought a deep understanding of the profession’s potential to impact lives.

“Dental assistants tend to be the ones who spend the entire appointment with a patient,” she explains. “One of the ways they can truly make a difference is by ensuring patients feel seen and heard, and that their life experiences are acknowledged as their reality.”

Guided by this insight, Susan and the College’s leadership team championed leadership development and cultural safety as essential elements in helping dental assistants rediscover purpose and take a more active role in shaping patient care experiences.

Throughout the series, dental assistant participants, led by a variety of insightful guest speakers, explored core leadership values including impact, courage, empowerment and self-respect, while learning how to apply them in everyday practice.

Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders participants also took part in meaningful discussions on cultural safety and humility, exploring how dental assistants can help patients feel seen, heard and respected, and stressing the importance of recognizing that patients’ lived experiences are their reality. The final workshop in the series focused on Indigenous allyship and anti-racism, reinforcing that allyship is not a title but a practice rooted in action. Review this full overview of the College’s Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders journey highlighting the series of speakers and topics.

Encouraging leadership beyond the workshop

Acknowledging her own journey from dental assistant to complaints director, Susan hopes the workshops inspired others to pursue broader roles and to see themselves as leaders who can serve on committees, influence decision-making, and ultimately help shape the future of the profession.

“We want to encourage dental assistants to take on broader roles and to see themselves as leaders who can step into more formal positions, including, if interested, serving on the College’s council or committees.”

While the workshops have concluded, the growth and momentum they inspired continue. Moving forward, the College remains committed to cultivating leadership, recognizing that this work strengthens the foundation for safer, more inclusive patient care. The seeds have been planted, and together, we will continue to nurture their growth.

Helping dental assistants meet their professional responsibilities

Dental assistants don’t begin their journey as regulated professionals without guidance. From their first questions as students about registration to understanding their responsibilities in practice once they’re Registered Dental Assistants, the College’s Regulatory Compliance Advisors (RCAs) are here to help.

The RCA team brings their experience from the clinic and classroom, as well as their deep regulatory understanding, to support dental assistants. They play an important role in helping the College fulfill our public protection mandate by offering clear guidance on professional responsibilities and supporting safe, ethical dental assisting practice.

Approachable, responsive and informed

A key part of the RCA team’s role is responding to inquiries and providing regulatory support to the public, dental assistants and other stakeholders. Over the past year, the team responded to nearly 2,000 inquiries, offering guidance on practice questions and interpreting requirements based on legislation, standards and College direction.

Questions covered everything from registration and the Continuing Competence Program (CCP) to infection prevention and practice expectations. Of the nearly 2,000 inquiries, 827 were about registration and 261 focused on the CCP. These numbers highlight the importance of the RCA team’s role in helping dental assistants clarify their responsibilities as regulated professionals.

“We want dental assistants to reach out to us,” says April Slotsve, who leads the RCA team in her role as the College’s Education and Practice Director and Privacy Officer. “We want them to know that we’re here to help.”

Every inquiry an RCA receives is also tracked. This helps identify common areas of confusion and also guides the creation of tools and resources to support registrants.

“We try to come up with ways we can provide information preemptively for the following year, so that maybe some of those questions don’t have to come up,” explains Slotsve.

Slotsve says the College started tracking inquiries at this level in recent years and highlights how the data is already helping to reach more registrants in a more meaningful way. Instead of relying solely on one-on-one conversations, the College can now offer timely resources that address common inquiries.

This year it led to the development of a registration checklist, a three-part CCP explainer video series and clearer questions in learning records. Each resource, developed in response to common inquiries, is aimed at making professional responsibilities easier to understand and apply in practice.

Building early connections

The RCA team also connects proactively with Alberta dental assisting students to help them understand regulatory expectations before they graduate. This year, they led 39 student sessions across Alberta including 16 welcome sessions and 23 registration presentations. Slotsve highlights how the goal is to become familiar faces students can feel comfortable reaching out to later in their journey once they’re regulated professionals.

In addition to student sessions, the team also engages directly with dental assisting educators to share regulatory updates, discuss challenges and collaborate on ways to meet the evolving needs of students entering the province’s profession. This ongoing engagement supports our shared goal of preparing competent, confident dental assisting graduates for professional practice.

Supporting safe, competent care

Reflecting on the team’s work this past year, Regulatory Compliance Advisor Jasmine Chandi summed up the RCA team’s purpose, saying, “We focused on making it easier for dental assistants to stay on track with their professional requirements.”

That emphasis on clarity, support and guidance is what makes the RCA team a key part of the College’s commitment to safe, ethical oral health care in Alberta. From their first questions as students to their learning and growth as regulated professionals, RCAs are there every step of the way.

Leading by learning to strengthen how we regulate

For the College, improving and enhancing how we work is not a one-time initiative. It’s part of our culture and it’s central to how we fulfill our mandate as the regulator of Alberta’s dental assisting profession.

Guided by our core value of being innovative and leading by learning, we actively seek opportunities to reflect, collaborate and strengthen our systems and processes.

Over the past two years, we deepened this commitment, living our value of leading by learning, as we began external reviews of our core programs. So far, we have invited third-party experts to review three areas of our work: the Continuing Competence Program (CCP), our communications and our governance.

The insights gained through these reviews are already helping shape our future direction and strengthening our commitment to regulatory excellence.

“It was important to the Council, and to myself, to undertake third-party reviews of our core functions to ensure we’re doing our job and not missing anything,” says the College’s Registrar & CEO, Jennifer Tewes. “Over time, when you’re entrenched in the work, whether that be the big picture work of the Council or the smallest of details that staff are working on, there is the potential to lose perspective or shift focus.”

Learning through listening

Each review involved extensive engagement with the people and partners most affected by the College’s work, including the public, dental assistants, educators and other key stakeholders. This input was essential in shaping the findings and ensuring the reviews reflected the realities of those we regulate and the public we are mandated to protect.

“Our work impacts a wide range of people,” explains the College’s Operations & Complaints Director, Susan vander Heide. “So, we need to understand what the impact is, along with what their expectation is.”

Refocusing the Continuing Competence Program

The College’s Continuing Competence Program (CCP) is a legislated requirement under Alberta’s Health Professions Act, but it is also a key part of a dental assistant’s professional growth. Ongoing learning is essential to safe, ethical care and competent practice.

As the first of the College’s strategic review initiatives, the CCP review focused on ensuring the program continues to meet regulatory requirements while also offering meaningful support for learning and development.

Dental assistants played an important role in shaping the review and the future of the CCP. They were invited to share their experiences and insights about the program, and their feedback directly highlighted opportunities to make the program more meaningful and practical.

This review resulted in several recommendations to enhance dental assistants’ understanding of and experience with the CCP and we’ve since been working to make the program more effective.

Strengthening how we connect with stakeholders

We know that clear, accessible communication is essential to effective regulation. That’s why our second review focused on a comprehensive external review of how we communicate with the public, dental assistants, educators and other oral health stakeholders.

Through this review, our communication channels including the website, emails and more were assessed for effectiveness along with our messaging to identify any gaps in clarity, accessibility and understanding of our role as a regulator.

A wide range of feedback was gathered to support this 360-degree review, so recommendations were grounded in meaningful insights. We heard that it’s important to continue clarifying our role and how it connects to the role of dental assistants in providing safe, ethical care, while also enhancing public communication and diversifying our channels, including building a presence on social media.

In response, we’ve already established an active, growing presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. We’ll continue to proactively communicate who we are and what we do, share insights into the College’s regulatory work, highlight engagement opportunities and post important updates and reminders about practice requirements.

Aligning governance with best practices

Good governance is more than solid internal structures or policies. It’s also about evolving with the public interest.

“Trying to define the public interest is really difficult, because it is always evolving too. And so societal expectations change, and as those change, we also need to change so that we continue to be able to regulate in the public interest,” notes vander Heide.

The most recent third-party review examined the College’s governance structure and practices against four key areas: role clarity, people, culture and relationships, decision-making and meeting effectiveness, and oversight responsibilities.

The findings led to 18 recommendations, along with an implementation plan that is guiding our next steps. We’ve shared this summary of the key findings.

As health care regulation evolves, public needs shift, and the realities of dental assisting change, how we regulate, communicate and lead must evolve too. We will continue these core program reviews as a critical checkpoint in our evolution. They are a chance to pause, reflect and, most importantly, listen. They reinforce our commitment to leading by learning and aligning our work with best practices.

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