Article
Janine Brooks wrote this book in 2018 to celebrate the achievements of women dental professionals in the 100 years since some women in UK achieved the right to vote in 1918. Unfortunately, the 100 years does not fit with our dental suffragettes because Lillian Murray (the first woman to qualify as a dentist in UK) qualified in Edinburgh in 1895. Fortunately, our pioneers get a brief mention later in the text.
Early chapters look at the position of women in dentistry in 1918 and the history between 1918 and 2018. Of particular interest is the Women in Dentistry (WiD) group started in 1985 and wound up in 2007 with its aims achieved. These included equality for women in the NHS pension scheme, provision of maternity pay for women in the General Dental Services and entitlement under the NHS pension scheme for widowers of dentists. The history concludes by describing where women were in 2018. The diagram on the book cover indicates women in all influential positions in the profession.
The main part of the text celebrates the success of 57 women, dental nurses, a technician, hygienists, therapists and dentists. Most are working now. These short autobiographies include: current responsibilities, the individual's dental story, most memorable achievement, advice to younger self on qualifying and mentoring. Each is accompanied by a picture and I particularly enjoyed the horse, the mountain and the hat!
There are some recurring themes to the individual stories. These women are often in administrative roles, teaching or specialists, particularly in Dental Public Health. Most describe postgraduate studies and further degrees. They have often perceived that something needs changing and have sought and accepted the challenge. For many, the hours spent running the show takes them away from the chairside. I found what was not, or rarely, mentioned, intriguing. Family and work/life balance were rarely mentioned; pregnancy, maternity leave, misogyny, the relevance of a good salary, did not feature. Equality was never mentioned but the author considers it an issue and she devotes a subsequent chapter to it.
This was for me an interesting read; the history was well described and the snapshots of some women's current roles in the profession were very thought provoking. Women are prominent and confident in running NHS dentistry. In 2018, of 4 Chief Dental Officers in the UK, 3 were women. However, from what I read (British Dental Journal, BDJ In Practice, Dental Update, BDA website), there are serious problems with delivery of NHS dentistry in some parts of the United kingdom. I found it disturbing that this was rarely mentioned in this book.
