Women in dentistry typically demand different things than their male colleagues. They often want time off to raise children and usually retire earlier. In his article “The 5 Most Dangerous Trends Facing Dentists and Their Families Today,” Evan Carmichael noted that male dentists typically work for 35 years, while female dentists usually work for 20 years in the profession. This statistic is bound to change since the ratio of women to men in the industry is continually changing, and will be interesting to observe over the coming decades.
As more women take roles in dentistry, we are seeing dental practices create more flexible working environments that reflect the needs of women. The current crop of dentists encourages those of the future to continue striving for the working conditions and work-life balance they need to achieve success.
We surveyed a number of female dentists and below are some of their comments and advice for women considering becoming dentists.
“My advice for future women dentists would be to know yourself and how to manage the stress of being a perfectionist, which can be in the nature of those personalities that go into dentistry,” one respondent said. “It can be overwhelming to own a practice, and be a ‘perfect’ clinical dentist, ‘perfect’ employer, ‘perfect’ colleague, lifelong learner and ‘perfect’ mother and still juggle everything with the impossible standards we set for ourselves. We wear many hats.”
“Having a dental career while being a mom is tough,” another respondent said. “One should strive to balance her career and family life, but the drive is the influence one can give to each and every patient and it’s priceless.”
While juggling the demands of dentistry with home life can be challenging, our dentists are showing they can do it all with ease, all while bringing new elements and approaches to an established industry. Although this was once a male-dominated field, women and their successes have now become integral to dentistry in Canada and beyond.
So with all of that said, we’d like to wish you all a happy International Women’s Day!
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