Differences in social perceptions between male and female first-year dental students

Male and female first-year dental students generally possess the same attitudes and the same perceptions about themselves, dentists they observe, and about their ideals for dentists and patients. The null-hypothesis, that is, assuming no difference between the two groups on the basis of these data, is accepted. In general, one must assume that those women who choose dentistry as a career are not significantly different from their men counterparts, although indirect evidence shows a possible exception of a more compassionate identification with the patient by female students. The findings suggest that it would not be appropriate or accurate to either admit or exclude male or female students based on what may well be "sexist" assumptions regarding women's perceptions of themselves as dentists or their perception of their relationships to patients. The findings should be generalized very cautiously beyond the UCLA School of Dentistry. However, at the time this study was conducted, this dental school had both the largest number of female students and the highest percentage of female students in the United States. The study is limited to perceptual differences of freshmen and does not attempt to deal with issues such as productivity or longevity of professional involvement. These issues may have some bearing on the formation of attitudes toward women entering the profession, but additional longitudinal studies following the careers of the current cohort of female dental students will be necessary to allay criticisms of women in dentistry.