Photo: Outaouais region faces a dental health crisis due to acute shortage of Dental Hygienists. (TF) Photo: Tashi Farmilo

With notes from Mary Baskin, Marie-Eve Turpin and Lily Ryan

The Outaouais region is seeing a significant shortage of dental hygienists causing major disruptions in dental health services. Catherine Roberge, representing the Order of Dental Hygienists of Quebec (OHDQ), offers detailed insights into the factors contributing to this crisis and its impact on the community.

Roberge highlights a stark disparity in the availability of dental hygienists. “The number of graduates in dental hygiene techniques in Outaouais is clearly insufficient to meet demand,” she explains. This shortfall is reflected throughout Quebec, where the ratio of dental hygienists to the population significantly lags behind neighbouring areas. “In Quebec, there are 80.2 dental hygienists per 100,000 inhabitants,” she notes, in contrast to Ontario’s 95.8.

The consequences of this shortage are widespread. Patients are experiencing longer wait times for dental appointments, with some clinics unable to take new patients for up to a year. “The waiting time before getting an appointment at a clinic is four, five, even six months,” Roberge states. Due to the lack of hygienists, some dentists have been forced to perform tasks typically reserved for hygienists, such as cleanings, or to refuse patients.

To address this issue, efforts are being made to expand educational programs for dental hygienists and to recruit internationally trained dentists into specialized programs. “At the provincial level, it would ideally be necessary to increase the number of places in CEGEPs offering the Dental Hygiene Techniques program,” Roberge suggests. This strategy is aimed at increasing the number of qualified professionals entering the field.

Looking ahead, Roberge advocates for long-term strategies to ensure a stable supply of dental hygienists in the region. This includes focusing on student recruitment and retention in educational programs and potentially recruiting from outside the local region if necessary.

The shortage of dental hygienists in Quebec, particularly in the Outaouais region, highlights a critical need for strategic interventions to ensure adequate dental care for the population. The OHDQ’s analysis and recommendations point toward a concerted effort required to address this growing concern in the dental health sector.