The United Kingdom's specialist workforce in paediatric dentistry: current and future trends

Objective To provide information relevant to the current and predicted future profile of the UK's specialist workforce in paediatric dentistry. Design Postal questionnaire. Subjects Two hundred and twenty-one registered dentists whose names appeared on the Specialist List in Paediatric Dentistry and who were identified as resident within the United Kingdom. Results Questionnaires were returned by 192 specialists, a response rate of 86.9%. This paper is, however, based on data provided by 187 respondents currently practising in the United Kingdom (54 (28.9%) male and 133 (71.1%) female). The majority of respondents were based in England (138) and practised in hospital settings (120). Eighty-two respondents (14 males and 68 females) stated that they were working part-time and 57 (5 males and 52 females) indicated that they had already taken a break at some time during their career. Eighty-four (45.2%) respondents plan to retire during the next ten years. Conclusions Working patterns associated with a feminised workforce will have a considerable impact on the volume of service that can be provided. Workforce planners must be cognisant of the need to increase the number of specialists in training to take account of service lost through part-time working and career breaks.