Fazeela Khan-Osborne celebrates the training opportunities available for women in dentistry.
The 2023 International Women’s Day had the theme of ‘Embrace Equity’. Gender equity should be part of society’s DNA, the campaign notes say, and it isn’t just women who are crucial to driving change; their allies are too.
Figures show that women constitute close to half of the UK dental workforce. In fact, the GDC’s report from July 2022 showed there were 22,126 women dentists on its register, and 20,644 men. Women are heading up dental associations, doing incredible, pioneering work and leading teams. They are also specialising, although the last statistics did show the areas that are less popular with women dentists include endodontics, prosthodontics and restorative dentistry, also oral surgery.
From my own experience, when I first came to dentistry, my plan was to be an oral surgeon. When I started out, I remember looking down a list of hundreds of consultants’ names and seeing only two women! I had to be organised - I had a family, my parents to look after, as well as my training and education. I decided to bring surgery into my own practice and set up a clinic, building a team of wonderful, talented people who share my ethos. There were few female educators back then too. This became my other passion, to be at the forefront of teaching young and novice dentists how to be cutting-edge and deliver quality treatment, always with a human touch. And so my implant education programmes were born.
I have been lucky to have the support of family and inspirational dentists and specialists around the world on my professional journey. The professionals that I trained with and still learn from every day, have been my allies, helping me achieve my goals and realise my dreams.
I now see many women in oral surgery, delivering and restoring dental implants and working on complex cases, including full-mouth rehabilitations. As removable prostheses have become less desirable, people are acknowledging that a dental implant can efficiently replace a diseased or damaged tooth, and function and look almost like the real thing. With maintenance, it can last for years making it a high-value option. Patients of all ages, as long as they are deemed suitable, can enjoy the emotional, social and health benefits of a dental implant. They can look in the mirror and see ‘themselves’, go out for meals and eat the foods they want without worrying their dentures could slip or break. Whether they’re 28 or 80, this treatment can be life changing.
The delivery of successful implant treatment will enable you to care for patients comprehensively. I want to see more young and novice dentists, of all genders, train in implant dentistry. Training early in your career will give you more options later on, should your work-life balance change, too.
As an implant dentist, you will be able to build your own team to support you with every case. There will be a core team and an extended one; your core team will be the DCPs in the practice, who have acquired the knowledge to stand beside you, and help each patient through the process. Your core team will be invaluable for helping you deliver the kind of dentistry you want to, and for forging your own, unique path. The extended team can include professionals such as dental technicians and specialist prosthodontists.
Many pioneering women are working in implantology, and this means more women mentors. In every part of dentistry, whether you are starting out or changing direction, mentoring is crucial. If you are a novice dentist, a great mentor can be the key to pulling you up and pushing you forward, giving you the confidence and self-belief to challenge yourself.
At The One to One Implant Education, mentoring is key to all our programmes. Class sizes are small for a supportive yet professional atmosphere, and you will connect with people who will inspire you, and become your friends for life. With a significant proportion of hands-on surgery as well as theory, each module is delivered by a team of prestigious educators and dentists, male and female, who want to share their knowledge. The programmes also offer flexible, work-based blended learning, for anyone who is worried they will have to make sacrifices to further their careers. New for this year is training for dental nurses too, who are crucial members of every successful implant team.
In UK dentistry, women lead and inspire. In the area of oral surgery, I want to see even more delivering quality dental implant treatments, to facilitate gender equity and help meet demand. Working together, we can raise standards of oral health, via the delivery of high-quality, holistic dental care.
For more information call 020 7486 0000 or visit https://121implanteducation.co.uk