Nova Scotia has tabled Bill 24, the Dental Hygienists Act, which will allow the province’s dental hygienists to perform a greater range of preventative dental-care duties and to practice in independent settings.
Under the proposed legislation, dental hygienists will have greater autonomy, allowing them to set up free-standing dental-hygiene clinics and practice independent of dentists. They will be able to deliver preventative dental-care services in non-traditional locations such as long-term care facilities.
The act will also allow dental hygienists to independently perform more dental-care duties, including teeth scaling and root planing, provided they have completed additional training and no contra-indications are present in the patient.
The Commissioner of Competition says it is pleased that the Nova Scotia government has introduced a bill that will permit greater competition for dental hygiene services in the province.
Dental hygienists in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec already work under similar independent models.
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