Do Canada’s dental offices need a filling of more resources? Depends on the province

According to results released in the spring from the Survey of Oral Health Care Providers, there have been various challenges reported by oral health care providers in Canada.

There were differences observed by geography for the rates of insured versus uninsured patients and the capacity of the practice to limit wait times or take new patients.

Let’s drill down to the root of the data for a closer examination of the offices of dentists, the most common provider type in Canada. (Note: these do not include offices staffed with hygienists only, nor offices of denturists.)

Staffing shortfalls pose challenges to offices across Canada

Among dental offices in 2023, Manitoba and British Columbia (11% each) had a job vacancy rate above the nationwide rate (9%). New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario each had a vacancy rate of 9%.

More than four in five dental offices across Canada (82.3%) reported staffing and human resources challenges. Notably, almost two-thirds of offices across Canada (63.8%) said they had difficulty recruiting skilled employees. One in two offices had difficulty recruiting hygienists (50.2%) and one in six had difficulty recruiting dentists (16.7%).

Among provinces, more than four in five dental offices in New Brunswick (81.4%) said they had difficulty recruiting skilled employees—the highest proportion among the provinces—followed by British Columbia (74.3%), Manitoba (69.5%), Quebec (67.4%) and Ontario (64.4%).

A smaller proportion of Canadian dental offices also reported difficulty in retaining skilled employees (28.2%).

When asked about other challenges, one in seven dental offices (14.4%) reported an increase in working hours for existing staff, more than one in five reported absenteeism (22.1%) and over three in five (61.7%) cited the rising cost of labour.

Most dental offices have a wait time of at least one week for existing patients to get an appointment, with longer wait times in Atlantic provinces

In 2023, the most common wait time for existing patients among dental offices in the provinces was one week to less than one month from booking to appointment. However, nearly half of dental offices in Prince Edward Island (48.2%) were able to provide appointments for existing patients in one month to less than three months, as did more than one-third of dental offices in Nova Scotia (35.0%), New Brunswick (35.0%), and Newfoundland and Labrador (34.1%).

Close to one in two dental offices in Prince Edward Island (49.6%) were able to provide appointments to new patients in three months to less than six months from booking to appointment, as did more than one in five dental offices in New Brunswick (22.9%). Proportions of wait times for new patients were otherwise close to those of existing patients in most provinces.

Uninsured rates vary by province

Dental offices in Quebec reported that over one-third (37%) of patients in their offices were uninsured in 2023, followed by dental offices in Newfoundland and Labrador (29%)—both rates are higher than the national average (27%). Conversely, rates were lowest among dental offices in Alberta (18%) and Saskatchewan (21%).

Although most Canadian dental offices said that they were accepting new patients (95.6%), a considerably lower proportion (78.9%) said they would accept patients who were only covered under public dental care plans.

Higher proportions of dental offices in Manitoba (89.8%), Saskatchewan (85.3%), Alberta (85.2%), Nova Scotia (84.4%) and Quebec (79.7%) indicated that they would accept patients who were only covered under a public dental care plan, compared with the national average.

Provider data added to dashboard

Looking for more details? Dental provider data have recently been added to the Selected indicators of oral health in Canada dashboard. Users can now examine the latest data from the perspective of a provider and a patient, and also by province, age group and insurance status.