Abstract
BackgroundTo determine the perception of Spanish dentists about the situation of the profession nowadays and how the changes occurred in dental workforce (in number and gender of the past twenty years) have affected their personal and professional lives, under a gender-based approach. Material and MethodsAn online survey comprising of 51 opinion and socio-economic questions, divided into 9 sections of different topics, which was administered between the members of 13 professional associations. Chi-squared tests were calculated (p<0.05). ResultsValid responses were received from 422 participants with a mean age of 41 years old and 66% of female dentists. Most dentists considered their selves in a “good” position, however, 72.3% of them said the profession “has had worsened”. Opinions significantly differed between women and men in gender equity and the pay gap between them could be observed (29.4% of males earned more of 4000 euros a month, while only 15.1% female dentists did). Also, 49.5% of female dentists felt underrepresented in the highest association of Spanish dentists (General Council of Dentist - Consejo General de Dentistas) and 38.4% declared they have had suffered verbal violence coming from patients repeatedly. ConclusionsA generally negative perception of dentists’ work quality was found among respondents. Also, opinions between males and females differed in important aspects of professional development. Further research projects are needed to have growing evidence on problems and disparities in the dental workforce which would help the institutions to make improvement actions. Key words:Dentists, Health Workforce, Survey, Gender, Spain.
Highlights
Nowadays, health workforce is mainly feminine, with around 67% of health professionals being women
Age gender equity in dentistry has improved “a lot”, only 12.2% of feminine dentists perceived it in the same way (p
Differences between genders were found for the influence of childcare, 54.1% of female dentists considered that it could be an influential factor for success, while only 22.4% of male dentists did (p
Summary
Health workforce is mainly feminine, with around 67% of health professionals being women. The way the dental sector is orgfanised in the country, based in small dental private practices and every day more often in chain practices owned by corporations, and the lack of sanitary regulation from the health and professional authorities in the field, have generated that the organization and distribution of dentists rely only on the market forces (15) This has resulted in uncontrolled proliferation of dentists, being the health profession of the country with the biggest variation of quantity of professionals (15), that have doubled in the last twenty years, as the General Council of Spanish Dentists predicted in 2010 (16). Further research projects are needed to have growing evidence on problems and disparities in the dental workforce which would help the institutions to make improvement actions
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