Over the last
three years, dental hygienist has been the fastest-growing
small- to medium-sized business job in Canada. The number of positions
skyrocketed from 1,273 for every million postings in 2015 to 4,907 in 2018.
The job site
Indeed.com, which tracked this trend, suggests that the rapid increase could be
a result of Canada’s oversupply of urban
dentists. Dentists are concentrated in Canada’s big cities and they require
competent staff to help them treat patients quickly and efficiently.
The uptick may also
be a result of the government
incorporating independent hygienists into the Non-Insured Health
Benefits program (NIHB) in 2016. The program covers otherwise not-provided care
for First Nation and Inuit communities. These communities are largely rural,
which may help explain why dental hygiene has grown faster than the competitive
world of urban dentistry.