Factors Influencing Students’ Likelihood of Pursuing Academic Dental Careers and Comparison by Under-Represented Minority Status and Gender

Purpose/Objectives: Female and under-represented racial and ethnic minority (URM) dental faculty are disproportionate to the gender, racial, and ethnic composition of the nation, despite trainees’ and patients’ preference for concordant faculty and providers. Although dental students represent a pipeline of potential faculty, little is known about their interest in academia. The purpose of this study was to determine if interest in academia, and facilitators and barriers in pursuing academia differed by gender, race, and ethnicity among a sample of dental students at one dental school located in the southeastern United States. Methods: A survey was sent to 334 dental students at a single dental school in the southeastern region of the United States. Overall there was a 54% response rate, totaling 180 students who participated in the study. Results: Gender and racial/ethnic background influence students’ decisions to consider a career in academic dentistry, along with personal influence variables and beliefs about barriers to success in academic dentistry. Conclusion: Growing future faculty may depend on finding ways to match students with faculty mentors of same racial and ethnic backgrounds, increasing opportunities to explore career options during dental school via reduced required curriculum hours. This alternative would allow for more opportunities for URM to address access to care issues, as well as serve vulnerable and low income populations. Future studies should survey URM and female students within all US/Canadian dental schools when they are admitted, and again, just prior to matriculation, to determine if efforts to increase the academic pipeline are effective.