On Thursday, the Nova Scotia Dental Association's job bank listed 138 openings for dental hygienists and assistants. It also listed about two dozen administrative positions.
The numbers point to a problem that a single recruitment fair cannot fix. Dental hygienists and assistants remain in demand across the province. Administrative staff are also hard to find.
The national Job Bank displayed 2,131 available vacancies across Canada on Oct. 3, 2026, underscoring the scale of hiring demand across the labour market and related health-care occupations.
A recruitment event meets a deeper labour problem
In March, the Nova Scotia Dental Association reported more than 100 active job postings as it prepared a job fair for dental workers and employers. Oral Health Group said an ageing workforce and departures after the COVID-19 pandemic were adding to the shortage.
Practices are now competing for staff. Demand for dental services is also expected to grow.
Demand is rising beyond Nova Scotia
Population growth and wider access through the Canadian Dental Care Plan are expected to increase demand for dental services across Canada. The federal government's Canadian Occupational Projection System identifies a strong risk of labour shortage for dental hygienists and dental therapists between 2024 and 2033.
Radio-Canada reported that some Quebec clinics were asking new patients to wait several months, and in some cases more than a year. Dental leaders linked the delays to shortages of hygienists and administrative staff as demand increased after the Canadian Dental Care Plan began expanding access.
The Canadian Dental Association estimates that Canada has 7,200 vacancies for dental hygienists and dental assistants. In a Sept. 25 commentary published by National Newswatch, CDA president Dr. Kirk Preston said shortages were particularly serious outside major urban areas.
That location matters. Some communities have far fewer staff available than others. The access problems described in Nova Scotia fit a wider Canadian pattern, also seen in an earlier access report where limited dental capacity left patients unable to secure care.
Federal listings show that the pressure is not limited to one province or one occupation. On Sept. 29, 2026, open Job Bank results for dental assistants included a new posting in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador. Listings published as recently as Oct. 2 continued to appear for the same occupational group.
A separate Job Bank search for dental hygienists and dental therapists showed fresh Ontario postings. One Nova Scotia search displayed "0 jobs found." The results show how vacancy visibility can differ by occupation and region.
The pattern is national.
The next test is capacity
The CDA will release its assessment of the Canadian Dental Care Plan, titled From Coverage to Care, on Parliament Hill on Oct. 6. The profession faces a basic limit: coverage can expand faster than practices can recruit the people needed to provide appointments.
Nova Scotia's continuing vacancies make that problem hard to dismiss. Recruitment fairs can connect employers with job seekers. They cannot replace retiring workers or bring back staff who left after the pandemic.
For dental practices, the shortage is more than a short-term hiring problem. The persistent listings show that staffing capacity must grow with dental coverage and population growth. Otherwise, access will remain limited by the number of available staff, not by a lack of demand.
