Gender Differences in Dental Career Choices Following Graduation

Objectives:  Concern has been expressed that the demographics of the dental profession may change markedly as a result of gender-based differences with respect to practitioner's entry into their careers following graduation.  Purpose:  The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in career choices made by male and female dental graduates.  Methods:  A total of 1594 surveys were sent to dentists who graduated from Creighton University between 1985 and 2005 and 485 were returned (30.4%).  Respondents answered questions regarding participation in post-doctoral programs as well as characteristics of their first and current practices.  Eight different classifications of dental employment were provided to select from.  Results:  Chi square goodness of fit (c²) demonstrated a significant difference between males and females who received and responded to the survey (c² = 10.67, p < 0.01) with a higher percentage of females responding.  No significant difference was found between the percentage of males and females entering postgraduate studies (p > 0.05).  Spearman's rank order correlation failed to demonstrate a significant gender-based difference for entry into each of the eight dental job categories (p > 0.05).  The results for the two most common career choices are presented below.

The data also demonstrated that many dentists who started as a private practice employee eventually changed their practice type to solo practitioner (56.9%).  For males, this migration was 61.6% and for females it was 42.9%.  The value of Lambda (0.09, p > 0.28) indicates this difference was not statistically significant.  Conclusion:  No significant difference between male and female dentists was noted with respect to career selection and the type of first practice selection.  Furthermore, no significant gender-based difference was detected in the pattern of practice change over time.