Accreditation Standards

The Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC), in consultation with its partners, develops and approves standards for educational programs educating and training dentists, dental specialists, dental interns/residents, dental hygienists and dental assistants. CDAC also develops and approves standards for institutional dental services.

Education programs interested in applying for accreditation may download the accreditation standards applicable to their area of study from this section of the website in both Word and Adobe PDF format. Educational programs should download a Guide to Accreditation (PDF 94 KB) for deadlines for submission of applications. Programs can contact CDAC if they have any questions.

New programs applying for accreditation must submit their applications to CDAC no later than August 1st.

Basic Process

Within the accreditation process, CDAC continuously develops, approves and revises its accreditation standards. As a result, educational programs and dental services are invited to apply for review against current standards.

Institutions must submit detailed information about their educational programs following CDAC’s required format. CDAC then reviews educational programs and dental services through structured on-site visits.

When the site visit is arranged, an accreditation survey team conducts interviews with faculty and students. The purpose of these meetings is to verify the documentation provided by the institutions to ensure that the documentation reflects the program/service and to provide additional information, if required. The accreditation survey team is usually comprised of educators in the specific discipline, a representative of the regulatory authority and a representative of the certification organization (if applicable).

Next, the survey team submits a report to CDAC that is reviewed at its annual meeting. CDAC then determines the eligibility of the program or service for accreditation. Programs and services that meet or exceed CDAC's standards are granted accredited status.