Women are making the dental field more diverse.
In the study "Evaluating the Impact of Dentists' Personal Characteristics on Workforce Participation" by the Oral Health Workforce Research Center at the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, researchers used data from the 2014-18 American Community Survey to assess variation in workforce participation patterns in dentists relating to certain personal characteristics.
Five findings about women in dentistry:
- Female dentists are more likely to be racially/ethnically diverse compared to male dentists, with 59.6 percent of female dentists being white and non-Hispanic compared to 77.6 percent of male dentists.
- The mean age of female dentists is 43.3 years old.
- Thirty-three percent of female dentists are foreign-born.
- Female dentists are more likely than male dentists to speak more than one language, with 35.5 percent of female dentists being bilingual.
- The percentage of dentists who are women and actively practicing is increasing.