The funding will support the Dental Simulation Lab featuring with simulated patients to allow students to practice real-world care, as well as the reinstatement of Cambrian College’s Dental Assisting Levels 1 & 2 program, beginning in January of 2026
Danielle Israel drove across the country to stick her hands in a stranger’s mouth.
Wait, let’s try that again.
In her third and final year of dental hygiene program at Cambrian College, Israel travelled from Alberta all the way to Sudbury to study.
“I have wanted to be a dental hygienist since I was in high school,” she said. “I can hardly wait to get started.”
While you don’t often hear of a young person dreaming of a career in dental hygiene, Israel spoke at the Dec. 5 opening of Cambrian’s new Dental Simulation Lab and said she’s grateful to learn in their “modern facilities.” Israel currently studies in the Dental Hygiene program.
At the conference, Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe announced an infusion of $2.6 million from the federal government, allowing the college to build the lab and re-introduce its Dental Assisting Levels 1 & 2 program, the first in Northeastern Ontario.
Paired with the community clinic across the hall, where Cambrian students provide no-cost preventative dental services under the supervision of a dentist and registered dental hygienist offering community members can receive cleanings, X rays and exams, she said it has been a great place to build her skill set.
“This (learning) is what I will rely on throughout my career,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to practice the skills that I will use every day when I start my career.”
The newly opened Dental Simulation Lab features 16 interactive and high-tech simulated “dental operatories” similar to what you might see in your own dentist’s office. The stations allow students to practice instrumentation and chairside dental assisting skills, as well as infection-control protocols.
The Dental Assisting Levels 1 & 2 program is beginning in January of 2026 in an effort to meet growing demand in the career, said a press release from Cambrian.
The redesigned, three-semester program aims to prepare graduates for both chairside and intra-oral dental assisting roles.
A spokesperson for Cambrian said the program had been discontinued during the pandemic due to infection control space requirements, but the college decided to bring it back because there’s such a demand for dental assistants.
The college states it will offer flexible learning, with the theoretical aspects delivered primarily online, complemented with hands-on laboratory sessions and a clinical placement in a dental office.
As stated above, Cambrian also offers a three-year advanced diploma dental hygiene program. Dental hygienists provide oral hygiene services such as cleaning and scaling teeth, whereas assistants work with dentists as they perform procedures, do x-rays and perform office management.
At the announcement, Lapointe told those gathered that the funds were not just an investment in health care, but also “an investment in our health care and in the well being of people who live in our community.”
For Cambrian’s manager of health clinics, Terri Gainer, who is also a dental hygienist, the lab was a chance to get “totally geek out.”
“It’s such exciting news, she said. “It’s wonderful for Cambrian, for our students, for our faculty, for our clients who attend our community dental clinic, and ultimately, for the people who are students will serve wherever they choose to practice.”
Carli Wright, the new program’s co-ordinator, told attendees that the lab’s greatest value is in the chance to build confidence.
“Here they can safely practice…they can work individually or in pairs to model the real dynamic between a dentist and a dental assistant; faculty can observe their posture, precision and techniques and coach them in a controlled, low stakes environment. This is exactly the kind of hands-on training that produces strong, confident, competent dental professionals,” she said.
“As a professional, I am thrilled with this space. It means our students can train the way our profession actually works,” said Wright.
And now, back to the biggest question of all. Really, you wanted to be a hygienist since high school?
“I have a little sister, and it gives me the chance to care for someone else the way I care for my family. It gives me a chance to connect with someone and it gives me a chance to know that I’m helping someone positively,” said Israel of her career choice. She said oral health problems don’t just hurt your teeth, they hurt your smile and from there, self-esteem.
“(Dental hygiene) gives me an active role to play to help them feel better, to help them feel more confident, and to help educate them, to prevent things that could occur in the future.”
She also said she hopes to help patients overcome their fear of the dentist. As she said at the beginning of her speech at the opening of the lab: “I can honestly say without sarcasm, that when it comes to public speaking, I would actually prefer a trip to the dentist.”
She wants to make sure that patients see “we’re actually here to help you and to help educate you, because there is that link between your oral health and your systemic health,” said Israel. “I understand there might be a fear of the dentist, but let’s work around it together.”
You can find more information about the programs here.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter for Sudbury.com
