Dentists Open to Gender Profiling in Dental School Admissions

Many Say It Might Be Acceptable to Favor Male Applicants

Dental Survey Results

Drum roll please! I recently asked you if certain factors might make it legitimate for dental schools to favor male applicants – and fully 42% of you said yes! Some see it as discrimination, whereas others think it would help preserve access to care.

You can also check out Jim Du Molin’s editorial examining some of the facts about gender and dentistry.

Female Dentists Support Female Dental Students Male versus Female Dental Practitioners

Ah, gender…

Just as you might expect, men and women were split on this question.

It’s not terribly surprising that a dentist’s gender played a significant role in a his or her opinion on this subject.

The majority of male dentists (55%) feel it would be acceptable to profile applicants based on gender.

Only one in nine female dentists (12%) agrees.

The City Mouse Disagrees with the Country Mouse Urban, suburban and rural dentists

Geographic location also played a major role.

While suburban dentists were split down the middle, urban dentists showed a preference for gender-blind admissions, and rural dentists in this survey approve of screening applicants for gender.

Dentists have no shortage of opinions on this highly charged topic…

For more insight, check out these comments!

“Dentistry should be embarrassed by this continued pattern of stupidity.” (Male New Mexico dentist)
“Since when do statistics about future work patterns determine admissions to any higher educational institutions in this country? Should unemployed college graduates not have been accepted at all because they are not working members of our society?” (Female South Carolina dentist)
“Women who want to be dentists should not be penalized.” (Female New York pediatric dentist)
“What a bunch of crap. It is surely more about the money for the dental schools; as in, how much they will get back in donations.” (Male Oregon dentist)
“If female dentists want to be home with their children and not practice at least 30 hours/week for at least four years, they should have to pay back to the state the amount it cost to train them.” (Female Alabama dentist)
“I am so tired of seeing female dentists who don’t want to work. Stop taking a spot in dental school. You have an obligation to the profession. If you only want to work part-time, be a hygienist!” (Female Ohio dental office worker)
“A dental shortage does exist in the US, and males who can afford to work more hours per week are a significant solution to that problem.” (Male Florida dentist)
“As a female dentist, I still have to deal with gender bias when it comes to associate job interviews. I am still asked to this day if I am married and do I have kids at an interview! It’s bad enough that we still have to deal with this from the ‘good old boys club.’ We don’t need it in our schools too.” (Female Florida dentist)

Read the complete
gender and dental school survey results…

sharon burocchi

how disappointing that this would even be a consideration, had i been polled regarding profiling favoring any particular party i would have voted the same way, it is absolutely unacceptable, interesting that you assume a female voice of no represents female support rather i would like to think most of my women colleagues wouldn’t consider profiling any group of individuals. this certainly does not make dentistry shine as an exciting, progressive, caring, diligent cutting-edge career choice that it is. regarding state assisted students male or female if certain assistance is accepted by any individual certainly a year of serving the underserved population could be a part of this agreement, however the larger issue for all students is the cost of dental education
justin e. aurbach

It is the responsibility of each applicant to any professional school to be assured he or she will paractice the profession. Certainly health issues can change the out come later in life. It is unfair to the states the U.S.government and their colleagues to enter a professional school with the concept of being a parttime practitioner. Most of these people rely on full time practitioners to operate full time practices to give them positions to supplement their income or practice as a hobby. I teach part time an find the female practitioners to exceed their male counterparts in the academic aspects of dental school, only to be weaker in the clinical or applied aspects of dental school. Obviously there are exceptions to this generaliztion. BOTTOM LINE! DON’T GO TO ANY PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PRACTICE.