Professional education and practice arrangements: are there gender differences among paediatric dentists in Israel?

To assess gender differences in professional education, practice setting and working arrangements among dentists in Israel, who primarily treat children.

All 112 participants in the meeting of the Israeli Society of Dentistry for Children that was held in February 1999.

A questionnaire completed during the meeting.

Seventy participants (63 per cent) completed the questionnaire and returned it. There were 43 females and 27 males. Less than half of the population were specialists (40 per cent of the females, 48 per cent of the males). No significant differences were found in the educational background and working in academia between females and males. With regard to practice arrangement, males significantly reported more frequently working in two clinics or more, than females (P = 0.049), and working in clinics with general practitioners (GPs) and specialists in various fields in dentistry, while more women reported working with either GPs or specialists (P = 0.007). In all other variables, no significant gender differences were found. The results of our study show that paediatric dentistry in Israel appears as a branch of the profession which shows great sexual equality of opportunity.