If your dental office has at least one employee, you are legally required to meet Ontario’s accessibility standards. That is not new, but in September the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario published a plain-language refresher, Provincial Accessibility Standards: What Dentists Need to Know, under its “Running Your Practice” series. When the regulator takes the time to restate an existing obligation, it is worth checking that your office is actually doing what the law requires.
The Rules That Apply to Your Office
Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), every dental office with at least one employee must comply with two sets of requirements:
- The Accessibility Standards for Customer Service
- The relevant requirements of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR)
Together, these standards exist to remove barriers so that people with disabilities can access goods and services, including oral health care, in ways that respect their dignity, independence and individual needs. RCDSO points out that Ontario’s population includes a large and growing number of people with disabilities, including a significant proportion of older adults. For most dental offices, that is not a small slice of the patient list.
Why RCDSO Is Raising It
RCDSO connects AODA compliance directly to its Foundations of Professionalism, specifically the principles of integrity, responsibility and respect for patients. In the College’s words, providing accessible service “is not only required by legislation; it demonstrates the profession’s commitment to equitable and patient-centred care.”
That framing matters for practice owners. Accessibility is not only a provincial compliance box. RCDSO is signalling that it views accessible service as part of professional conduct, which is the lens it uses when it looks at patient concerns.
The Customer Service Standard: Seven Requirements
RCDSO lists the steps a dental practice must take to comply with the Customer Service Standards:
- Written policies, practices and procedures describing how your office provides accessible customer service.
- Support for assistive devices such as walkers, hearing aids, wheelchairs and communication aids.
- Communication that accounts for a patient’s disability and their preferred way of receiving information.
- AODA training for all staff.
- Welcoming service animals and support persons in all public areas of the office.
- Notice when accessibility-related facilities or services are disrupted.
- A feedback process for patients to raise accessibility-related comments or concerns.
Do You Have to File a Report?
It depends on the size of your team.
- 20 or more employees: you must submit regular AODA compliance reports to the province.
- Fewer than 20 employees: you are not required to file, but you must still meet every component of the Customer Service Standards and the relevant parts of the IASR.
In other words, not having to file a report does not mean not having to comply. Most independent dental offices fall into the second group, which is exactly why the obligation is easy to lose track of. Nobody is asking for the paperwork, until a patient raises a concern.
Resources, the compliance reporting portal and a self-assessment checklist are available from the province at ontario.ca/accessibility.
What Compliance Looks Like Day to Day
RCDSO’s practical advice is to start by looking at your office from the perspective of a person with a disability: how they navigate the space, how they communicate with your team, and how it feels to seek care. Its simplest recommendation is also its most useful:
“A simple but effective practice is to ask each patient what support they need to feel comfortable and respected.”
For clinical planning, RCDSO points dentists to the Case Complexity Assessment Tool developed by the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health (CSDH), which helps identify cognitive, sensory or mobility-related factors that may make a case more complex. Recognizing those needs early supports safer, more appropriate care.
Your AODA Checklist
- Find your accessibility policy. If you cannot locate a written policy in your office manual, you do not have one. Write it.
- Check your training records. Every staff member should have completed AODA training. Add it to your new-hire onboarding so it does not depend on someone remembering.
- Review your front desk scripts. Make sure staff know how to handle service animals, support persons and requests for information in alternative formats.
- Plan for disruptions. Decide how you will notify patients if an accessible entrance, washroom or other feature is temporarily unavailable.
- Set up a feedback channel. A patient should be able to raise an accessibility concern and know it will be answered.
- Count your employees. If you have 20 or more, confirm your compliance reports are filed on time.
- Ask the question. Build “What can we do to make your visit comfortable?” into intake so it happens every time.
How MAP Can Help
Accessibility obligations sit where HR, operations and compliance meet, which is often where nobody owns them. MAP’s HR Management and Risk and Compliance teams help dental practices put written policies, training records and patient feedback processes in place and keep them current. Learn more at maphcm.com.