The Health Professions Act (HPA) places the responsibility of public safety and monitoring of denturism in the province of Alberta with the College. As per the Denturists Profession Regulation, the College of Alberta Denturists must approve a registration examination that is one of the requirements leading to registration with the College. The College’s registration examination tests at the entry-to-practice level based on the National Denturist Competency Profile.
The College of Alberta Denturists registration examination is a two-part process including an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as the preferred method for assessing clinical competencies and a multiple choice question (MCQ) exam. A denturist must be competent in both the written and practical application of denturism and therefore tested on the combined abilities as aligned with the National Competency Profile. The MCQ is delivered via a secure remote proctoring platform and the OSCE is in person.
To view the competency profile and exam blueprints, please visit the Competency Profile and Blueprints page of our website.
The Canadian Denturist Multijurisdictional MCQ examination was administered for the first time in June 2021. Previously, provinces administered their own examination. This commonality ensures that every examination candidate is afforded a fair, defensible assessment that is standard across the provinces that choose to endorse this process. Currently, those provinces are BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.
Examination candidates are exposed to the same examination registration processes and examination preparation resources. Candidates are administered the MCQ examination remotely in an online format with mandatory online remote proctoring. The exam is administered simultaneously for all candidates.
The multiple choice questions are based mostly on theory combined with practical components. For example, there are scenario based questions (a description of a situation or condition is provided, and you must determine and provide a response) and removable partial denture design based questions. This theory portion is designed to assess critical thinking.
The examination will consist of 240 questions in total, administered in two, 3-hour sessions (AM & PM).
A Candidate Information Package detailing the technical and environmental requirements for candidates is available here when it becomes available for the upcoming exam.
At this time, the OSCE continues to be provincially administered. The Colleges are working towards a common registration examination that will encompass both the MCQ and OSCE. It is anticipated that the multijurisdictional OSCE will be administered first in June 2025.
The Alberta OSCE consists of 16 stations of varying length and complexity. Each station is designed to test a set of skills required of a denturist in Alberta as defined by the legislation and the National Competency Profile.
Candidates are required to integrate both their clinical knowledge and their communication skills. It is through this integration that the candidate demonstrates professional judgement. Candidates are required to demonstrate what a denturist encounters in practice. This includes, but is not limited to, the construction and design of complete and partial dentures, surgical and implant dentures. Collaborative, technical, and interprofessional skills and communication will also be assessed.
The OSCE includes approximately five hours of testing with breaks.
There are three pathways through which an individual may access the Alberta registration exam:
Should you have any questions about your eligibility, please contact the College.
An individual is eligible to apply for the registration examination once they have reasonable expectation that they will graduate or have graduated from an entry-to-practice program approved by the College or has been permitted to apply by virtue of provisional registration or direction of the Registrar or Registration Committee.
An eligible candidate may attempt each component a maximum of three times each.
MCQ
The next administration of the MCQ component is scheduled to be administered February 12, 2025.
The MCQ Exam Orientation Session will be announced closer to the date.
OSCE
The OSCE is next scheduled to be administered in June 2025 at the University of Calgary (Foothills Medical Centre campus – 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary). This will be the multijurisdictional OSCE.
Registration
Registration is a two-step process that starts with the submission of the application form. The College encourages all examination applicants to start the examination process so that the College may contact them directly with relevant information.
Registration Dates
February 2025 MCQ: November 25, 2024 – January 10, 2025
June 2025 MCQ and OSCE: TBD
Application forms
The registration exam has fees associated with each exam component. The fees expressed are in Canadian funds:
| Component | Fee | GST | Total Fee |
| MCQ | $900 | $45 | $945 |
| OSCE | $4000 | $200 | $4200 |
| BOTH | $5145 | ||
Payment methods: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or e-transfer
*A registration is considered complete when the application form(s) and the associated fees have been received by the College.
A solid and legally defensible registration examination has many processes and requirements and is best overseen by a psychometrician. For this purpose, the College has contracted the services of a third-party psychometric firm, with considerable experience in the field of denturism. The psychometric services rendered lead to the policy and processes use to develop the examination questions; exam construction; setting the minimum pass score for the examination’s components; determining when a candidate has aptly demonstrated within the examination process if they are successful or unsuccessful; and ongoing quality assurance with the examination questions and content. In addition to psychometric services required, an OSCE creates a layer of complexity that requires expertise and resources not common to a College.
A candidate’s examination results will be available to them approximately eight weeks following the examination sitting.
If a candidate is successful on both parts of the examination, the candidate:
If a candidate is unsuccessful on one or both parts of the examination, the candidate:
An examination candidate has the right to appeal the result of their examination based on the examination process, not content. To do so, the candidate must lodge a formal appeal with the College (along with any applicable fees) within 15 business days of the release of the examination results. The College will ensure that the appeal is considered and processed in an expeditious and fair manner. Please forward any appeals with supporting documentation to drichmond@abdenturists.ca. The College will be in touch to ensure appropriate processing of fees prior to your appeal being considered.
College of Alberta Denturists
405, 10408 124 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T5N 1R5
