The Income Earning Advantage or Entering the Workforce Sooner
Columbia’s professional programs have a distinct earning advantage of programs in most traditional institutions. Columbia College’s professional programs take less time to complete than similar programs at most educational institutions. This means that graduates from Columbia College can be earning an income months ahead of counterparts from similar programs at most traditional institutions. Because our students are able to start at multiple times throughout the year and graduate sooner, they can enter the workforce sooner. As a result, Columbia’s graduates may start earning an income months before students from other colleges complete their programs. This gives them an earning advantage that can amount to thousands and thousands of dollars.
Academic Year
Accelerated Program
While maintaining the same number of hours of instruction,
Course Delivery Schedule
Although most programs have a pre-determined course delivery schedule, it should be understood that classes may be rescheduled from time to time, depending on availability of classrooms, labs, and facilitators. Therefore, students must be available and prepared to attend classes during the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening and weekend) they are scheduled.
Students in the Dental Assisting program will attend classes Monday through Friday. Normally classes run from 8:30 – 4:00 pm. Clinical schedules are posted in advance as class hours vary during a 7:15 am – 6:00 pm time frame.
Pre-Class Activity
All professional programs have established student orientation sessions for new students prior to class commencement. There are normally homework assignments that are due at the start of their first day of classes.
Graduation Requirements
To graduate from the Dental Assistant Professional Certificate Program, students must earn 53 credits and achieve an overall program grade point average of at least 3.0.
Licensure Requirements
In
Requirements for Registration are as follows:
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Successfully complete a formal education program (including Co-operative Education).
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Pass the NDAEB (National Dental Assisting Examination Board) Examination: To be eligible for the NDAEB certificate, dental assistants must have successfully completed formal education in the following mandatory skills:
- chairside dental assisting;
- expose dental radiographs;
- oral hygiene instruction;
- dietary counseling relative to oral health;
- selective coronal polishing;
- apply and remove dental dam;
- take preliminary impressions;
- apply treatment liner;
- apply and remove matrix and wedge;
- apply fluoride;
- apply pit and fissure sealant;
- apply desensitizing agents;
- apply topical anaesthetic;
- use, care & maintenance of coronal whitening by bleaching
trays. -
Candidates must pay the required application fee and membership fees to the CADA (
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Graduates can expect an approximate time of 1-2 weeks for confirmation from the CADA re: provisional licensure before starting work.
Graduate Success
In April of each year the College reports to Alberta Advanced Education on the success of its graduates in their field of training or their acceptance into another educational program. The College is proud to advise that last year over 90% of our professional program graduates were successful. Contact this program’s Student Program Advisor for further information.
Program Accreditation, Licensing, Membership and Professional Associations
Please refer to the section titled “Recognition of the College” for a complete list of organizations that accredit and license the college as well as those organizations of which it is a member or is a professional associate.
The Dental Assistant Professional program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada.
For information on registering outside of