Dental Survey Results: Are Female Dentists More Caring?

In this poll, we asked dentists: Are female dentists more caring and nurturing with their patients than male dentists?

Four out of five dentists don't think so.

Over eighty percent responded, "No - some dentists are more caring than others; gender has nothing to do with it." Only 17% replied, "Yes - in general, female dentists are more caring than male dentists."

Rural dentists were most likely to buck the trend and vote "Yes."

Female dentists were also more likely than male dentists to find women to be more caring dentists.

Rural dentists were significantly more likely to feel that women are more caring and nurturing dentists - three to four times more likely than urban or suburban dentists, in fact.

This may suggest that rural dentists have more traditional views of gender roles than those in more urban or suburban locales.

Of course, one can never be sure - perhaps the city folk are just more hesitant to voice opinions that may not seem politically correct.

Women were also significantly more likely to vote "Yes" when asked if female dentists were more caring and nurturing with their patients.

Nonetheless, the majority of women did not feel that gender played a role in the quality of a dentist's chair-side manner.

Specialists also seemed to be somewhat more likely to find female dentists to be more caring and nurturing.

Specialists also seemed to be somewhat more likely to find female dentists to be more caring and nurturing.