Nova Scotia dentistry forced to turn away new patients amid staffing shortages

Nova Scotia’s lack of hygienists is taking a bite out of dental practices.

Dr. Erin Hennessy says owning and operating Wolfville Dentistry in Nova Scotia for the past 17 years has been a journey filled with highs and lows.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, she says it changed the face of dentistry.

“COVID really was a pivotal moment. There were a lot of people that exited the health-care profession across the board, not just dentistry, because it was a dangerous time,” she says.

Six years later, Hennessy’s dental office is facing the brunt of staffing shortages like never before.

With only one full-time dental hygienist, she’s had to take on other roles.

“Most dentists right now would tell you the thing that keeps them up at night is not the teeth, it’s the HR. It’s the staffing shortages,” says Hennessy.

“A dental office is only as good as its team, so I can be the greatest dentist in the world, but if I don’t have a team that can support me to do what I can do, it grinds to a halt.”

Her dentistry is just one of many province-wide dealing with staffing shortages.

In Nova Scotia, there are 35 dental offices actively seeking to hire at least one dental assistant and 61 offices looking to obtain a dental hygienist, according to the Nova Scotia Dental Association.

Caleb Porter, president of the association, says at his dental office in Antigonish, he’s experienced first-hand how difficult it is to attract and retain dental workers in rural communities.

“We just cannot seem to get even dentists, believe it or not. But assistants and hygienists, unless they live in that community, to drag them from somewhere else to relocate to a new place in a rural area, it’s been the supreme challenge. It’s so difficult,” says Porter.

The association says they’re taking steps to address the need for more oral health providers through a dental job fair in Halifax on March 28.

The career expo hopes to fill more than 100 job postings on the association’s website for dental hygienists, assistants and assorted dental office support staff in Nova Scotia.

“The job fair fills two mandates. One is to connect students already in dental programs with employers. But the second part of it is to inspire people into careers in oral health. Part of the problem is people don’t realize these careers exist, and they can be very rewarding. I think the bigger part of this event is to try to get people interested in careers in dentistry,” says Porter.

Hennessy is hopeful the job fair will mean she won’t have to continue turning away new patients every week.

“I don’t want to say I’m not taking new patients, but for right now, our capacity is bottlenecked by the fact that I don’t have enough hygienists, and I don’t have enough dental assistants to be able to make my day work functionally and efficiently. So, we’ve decided in fairness to our existing patients and to my team and myself, that we need to just push pause right now until we can get up to capacity,” she says.

Hennessy says the shortages have taken an emotional toll on her office but says she’s optimistic for a bright future.

“It does keep you up at night, because if you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, it gets harder and harder every day to put a smile on your face and get out of bed.”

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