Orthodontic assistants, who specialize in teeth straightening, often meet their patients for the first time when they are twelve or thirteen years old. This profession is accessible only to those already working in teeth straightening, making it both fairly uncommon and a shortage profession. Anna Olofsson is one of two orthodontic assistants in Luleå and is currently on parental leave. Kerstin Pohjanen has worked as an orthodontic assistant for 20 years, works part-time, and will gradually reduce hours completely.
Training for orthodontic assistants involves distance education, such as the half-time, two-year course at the Eastman Institute in Stockholm taken by Malin Frostevarg. Maria Öberg, who works as a dental nurse, is also taking the distance education course. The employer covers the cost of education, travel, and accommodation for the orthodontic assistant training. After graduation, those who complete the orthodontic assistant training receive a salary supplement of 3,000 kronor. Malin Frostevarg is a dental hygienist by training and first trained as a behavioral scientist and worked as a cashier manager in a large grocery store before switching careers. When Malin Frostevarg was hired, it was a request from the employer that she take the orthodontic assistant training.
Public Dental Care offers students in dental care professions the opportunity for employment during the summer. This year, 28 students in various locations in the county are performing certain work tasks under supervision. Margit Sundén and Tom Kristoffersson are classmates in the five-year dental program in Gothenburg and are working on temporary licenses, meaning they receive their own patients and perform certain tasks under supervision. The Boden clinic has taken in seven students this summer. Mia Hedström is from Boden and is training to become a dental nurse via a distance vocational education with in-person meetings in Luleå.
A mapping conducted in autumn 2025 shows that employers in both private and public sectors see large needs for strengthened competence in areas including digitalization, leadership, work environment, business development, and transition capability. The total recruitment need in the county amounts to about 8,500 people over the next two years. The need for competence development is large, affecting about 15,500 employees in the public sector and about 6,200 people in the business sector. The mapping is intended to serve as a fact-based basis for continued cooperation and joint solutions.
Employers, education providers, and political representatives are meeting at the conference 'Future Competence Supply'. The conference continues tomorrow, March 18, in Luleå, focusing on solutions and concrete ways forward to strengthen competence supply in Norrbotten.
It is now possible to study to become a dental hygienist via distance education from Norrbotten and also do part of the practical training there. The program is conducted mainly via distance learning but includes mandatory in-person sessions in Karlstad. During the three-year education, the student needs to be on-site in Karlstad for a total of 20 weeks, divided into periods. Of the work-based education (VFU), 15 weeks can be done at a dental clinic in Region Norrbotten. There is already a shortage of dental hygienists.
Specific recruitment needs are acute across sectors, with 359 nurses needing to be recruited in the region, 622 assistant nurses in the municipalities, and 698 process operators in the business sector. Nearly three out of four companies in Norrbotten report having had difficulty recruiting in the past year. More than every third recruitment attempt fails. Daniel Persson has been trying to get people for three to four years for his welding company in Boden.