P.E.I. dental offices facing staffing issues, appointment backlogs

An Island-wide staffing scarcity in dental clinics is inflicting a backlog of appointments, and it is forcing some sufferers on P.E.I. to attend months earlier than receiving care.

“As with all a part of well being care, everyone’s searching for someone to assist them out,” stated Dr. Brian Barrett, govt director of the Dental Affiliation of P.E.I.

He stated key positions akin to dental assistants and hygienists are “important” for places of work to have the ability to carry out their full vary of capabilities.

However an absence of workers is leaving some dentists to do the work alone which in flip impacts sufferers whose appointments get cancelled or rescheduled.

Pandemic aftermath

Barrett stated a part of the issue has been the pandemic since many dental assistants and hygienists have modified their hours to part-time, leaving clinics in a state of affairs the place extra shifts are wanted to fill the week.

He stated one other pandemic-related issue has been coping with the fallout of appointments that had been missed when dentists needed to shut their practices.

“When issues get backed up, it is simply actually onerous to get caught up once more,” stated Barrett.

“There’s nowhere to place folks that have cancelled or did not present up besides, oh, seven or eight weeks … perhaps a few months.”

Jessica Vancolen, secretary of the P.E.I. Dental Hygienists Affiliation and a registered dental hygienist, stated this ultimately ends in a pileup of appointments — a mix of sufferers who had been bumped to a later date and sufferers who had been booked for that point.

With the added problem of staff leaving the apply or shifting to a different workplace, she stated routine appointments that will usually be scheduled each six months are actually reserving as much as 10 months prematurely.

Recruitment and retention

There are not any establishments on P.E.I. that supply dental hygienist coaching for individuals who need to work within the discipline, and Vancolen stated it is a barrier to hiring and retaining workers.

“It’s a must to both go the closest place [which] could be Moncton or RisePEI, so lots of people — they will go to these locations after which perhaps determine, ‘Oh, I prefer it right here’ they usually’ll keep,” she stated.

Vancolen stated extra incentives, like paying off scholar loans for individuals come again to the Island, might assist entice these people to probably turn out to be workers and help with the workload.

The Canadian Dental Affiliation says labour shortages usually are not remoted to P.E.I., however are a country-wide drawback that is been difficult each earlier than and after the pandemic.

In an announcement to CBC Information, the affiliation stated, “Mixed, current workforce challenges, modifications to affected person administration, and extra sufferers returning to their dental house for care are inflicting dental appointments to be scheduled or rescheduled farther out.”

It stated different elements impacting appointment backlogs, together with early retirements, can range by province.

The CDA stated it has renewed its collaboration with the Canadian Dental Assistants’ Affiliation to develop a undertaking referred to as Constructing the Skilled Dental Aiding Workforce of the Future, aimed toward helping dental workplace workers with wellness sources and motion plans to handle labour mobility and integration of immigrants into the workforce.