12 January 2023

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Study: Dentistry income gap remains between men, women

Dentists with a partner or spouse earned more than those without a significant other

Pietro Moroni

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This study, published on Jan. 4 in the Journal of the American Dental Association, provides an update on the income gap between men and women in dentistry, evaluating the impact of dentists’ household, personal and employment characteristics on income differences.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, conducted from 2014 to 2018. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

Results

Female dentists were less likely to be White and born in the U.S. and more likely to be bilingual than male dentists, according to the study. Adjusted estimates indicated that male dentists earned 22% more than female dentists, Black dentists earned 24% less and other race non-Hispanic dentists earned 17% less than non-Hispanic White dentists, after adjustment for covariates. 

Dentists with a partner or spouse — who is not a dentist — earned more than those without a partner or spouse, and dentists with three or more children earned 19% more than those who were childless.

The income gap between the sexes was $51,784 in 2018 dollars. More than 27% of this gap was explained by observable personal characteristics (race and ethnicity, bilingualism), employment (hours worked and employee or ownership status) and household (partner or spouse occupation and education) characteristics.

Conclusions

The dental workforce is diversifying, but sex and racial disparities in income persist. The income gap between the sexes, although reduced over time, is now less explainable than in the past.

Sai Sindhura Gundavarapu, Simona Surdu and Margaret Langelier. "Exploring the impact of household, personal, and employment characteristics on dentistry’s income gap between men and women." JADA. Published January 04,2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2022.11.007