That's a great question, and it's something we have been talking to some of your colleagues about, because across the country right now there is a shortage of dental assistants. Even before COVID, there was a shortage, and since COVID, that shortage has been exacerbated, because the demands on a dental assistant....
A dental office operates like a small hospital. Any of you who have been to your dentist, especially since COVID, have seen all the barriers and PPE and everything going on, and the people who actually make all that happen are the dental assistants. They're highly trained and they're very technical. It is not an easy job, and it requires education. In most provinces, it's regulated.
We are applying to the federal government on a project in collaboration with the Canadian Dental Assistants Association and looking for ways that we can increase the number of dental assistants entering into the profession as well as for ways of retaining them in the profession, because with respect to the supports for mental health, for instance, they have been tremendously affected, as have all other frontline workers during the pandemic. It will be a bit of a concern if we get a sudden influx of new patients coming into the system. Dentists and dental office staff will do their best to handle that influx, but there is a shortage of dental assistants.
I think there's another study going on looking at the care economy in the public health system, and we're concerned that we don't forget the health care that's being delivered in private settings, such as dental offices, because if you end up attracting more people into one aspect of the health system, you don't want that to be at the detriment of the private delivery.
There are dental assistants who work in public health. Dr. Aaron Burry himself works in a public health office one day a week, but the majority work in private dental offices and the majority are female, so all the issues around child care and schooling at home and all of that stuff that took place during the pandemic had a tremendous effect on the workforce.