A Look at Women's Professional Lives in Dentistry : A Qualitative Study

Over the last 40 years, there has been a consistent increase in the proportion of women in the dentistry profession. In this study, we intended to gain insight into the issues and concerns that influence the work characteristics of female dentists. A number of studies have shown that gender differences exist in choice of specialisation, practice patterns, and professional attitudes; some have revealed that women are attracted to primary care management ahead of other dental specialties. It is also evident that women work fewer hours, work part-time and see fewer patients than men, and are less likely to own their practice than their male counterparts. There is also a net income discrepancy between male and female dentists. We used a qualitative description methodology to guide this study, for which we recruited a purposive sample of six female dentists from the dental clinics of Montreal General Hospital, in the greater region of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. All interviews were fully transcribed, with the data managed with NVivo vr.9 software to facilitate the analysis. The findings suggest that female dentists consider it a challenge to balance work and childcare responsibilities.