Increasing Female Dentists Improves Health Equity

A new study, Evaluating the Impact of Dentists’ Personal Characteristics on Workforce Participation: https://oralhealthworkforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/OHWRC-Evaluating-the-Impact-of-Dentists-Personal-Characteristics-on-Workforce-Participation-2021.pdf conducted by the Oral Health Workforce Research Center (OHWRC) at the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) builds on their previous work. A National Study of the Practice Characteristics of Women in Dentistry and Potential Impacts on Access to Care for Underserved Communities that suggested that “female dentists treat more children and more publicly insured patients than their male counterparts. The growth in the number of women in dentistry may expand the capacity of the delivery system to better meet the needs of the population, particularly the underserved.”