a curious observation about gender

[maple]

So it occurred to me that my ortho, a male, is surrounded by female staff: 2 receptionist & 5 ortho assistants. My dentist, also a male, has only female staff. I have had 4 dentists before my current dentist and only 1 was a woman. I don’t have a preference as far as gender is concerned. When it comes to healthcare providers, I tend to make decisions based on convince and reputation.
Just a curious observation about gender. Why does it seem that women have the role of assistant and the male doctor is the guy with the reputation and a bigger paycheque.

[ellebee]

I have a female dentist and I love that!

Elle

[jennielee81]

My ortho's a guy, my dentist's a woman.

In my lifetime I've gone to about 5 different dentists, they've all been men (except my current one) and I have NEVER had a male assistant...hmmm....

My dentist doesn't work with assistants at all. She's in practice with her husband and they work together on each patient. Very nice service!!

[cowlypso]

Hmm... I guess you're right. My childhood dentist, my dentist in AZ, my current dentist, my orthodontist, the orthodontist that I consulted with, the oral surgeon, and the periodontist... all male with female staff.

I did have half a consult with a female ortho, but the office staff was terrible, so I bailed on that. The ortho herself seemed okay. I was also trying to get in for consults with a few other orthos, some female, but they didn't have room in their schedules, and my first two consults were nearly identical.

In Arizona, one of the female hygenists was from somewhere in South America (don't remember which country). She had actually been studying to be a dentist there (I think she had almost completed the program). But when she moved to the U.S., her credentials or credits or whatever didn't transfer, so she decided to just become a hygenist instead, since it would take less time. Let me just say that she was an awesome hygenist!

[JumpTheDitch]

Lol, I was just telling my boyfriend about my Ortho and his 'harem' this afternoon. I guess there's probably anywhere between 8 and 10 staff in the office at any given time. Apart from the Ortho himself, they're all of the female variety. Funnily enough, my dentist (who referred me to my ortho) has a similar set up, on a smaller level.

No gender bias though, I don't mind either way, it just seemed to work out this way.

[iBorg]

My last two dentist have been women. My ortho is a woman. I prefer female healthcare providers. They seem more willing to listen. When I had to find another dentist I asked my ortho for suggestions. She asked man or woman. I chose woman.

Mike

[Delag]

Here in Latin America the gender bias is still going strong, but it is changing in the bigger cities. It is not as socialy acceptable for a woman to leave her children and go off to work. It is however alright for them to leave their kids with a 15 year old maid and go play canasta all afternoon - go figure. The women who work in my orhos office are all dentists, and young - many still going to school. An interesting thing to note....all of the pediatric dentists I have found are women. I think we have gone through 5 so far (long story).

[Saki]

I just changed to a new dentist and it is staffed entirely by women - in fact only one man works there and he's the receptionist!

It makes for a nice change!

[wwtoast]

This is my third female dentist and ortho. Come to think of it all 3 offices were fully run and staffed by women. One has a husband who's a doctor.

[karebear46168]

my ortho is a male with a female staff (one being his wife), my general dentist is male with a female staff, my periodontist is male with a female staff, but my TMJ dentist is female with a female staff! go figure.....

I have no preference as long as they are good at what they do!

[jcdamon3]

My office has all male orthos and all female assistants.

I don't consider this gender bias. To me gender bias means I can't get a job because I am female. The lack of female orthos is not this. I think folks are getting gender bias mixed up with stereotypical roles of gender that are ingrained in us from childhood. My parents didn't have big expectations of me when I was growing up. (I am female btw). When you don't expect much, you don't get much. I got married instead of going to college. I later learned I wasn't going to be taken away by my night in shining armor so at 24 I went back to school and earned a Bachelors degree in Science.

My daughter has seen me work since she was a baby so hopefully she hasn't picked up on female stereotypical roles. When we talk about what she wants to major in for College I don't tell her what she should do but I just say "I envision you in a white lab coat" I also stress Math and Science as much as possible.

[Jillianleab]

My ortho is a male with an all female staff. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, the OS was a woman with an all female staff. My general dentist, however, is a woman with two assistants, one male one female. My dentist as a kid was a man with all female staff.

I think part of the reason for this is gender stereotyping, but part of me wonders if a lot of the female assts right now are working toward becoming orthos or dentists themselves. The medical field seems to be dominated by men, but so do most other fields. Women are typically expected to put their families first, so that's part of the problem. Then, when you get a women with no children who wants to concentrate on her career she can get held back because higher-ups are afraid she's going to START a family and not be able to devote the required attention to the job. Glass ceiling, indeed...

I, for one, hope to see more women in positions of power (like p0litics) in the US to inspire young girls to achieve more. But, until the gender bias goes away, it's going to be a struggle.

Apparently p0litics is a bad word, lol! The filter changes it to SPAM-SPAM-SPAM!

[newmetal]

My ortho is the only bloke (male) in the practice, the rest of them are women.

Maybe its different in the uk.

Newmetal

[joney]

3 orthos in my ortho's practice, 2 men, one woman. My ortho is a man but my daughter's ortho, who is in the same practice is a woman.

My dentist is a woman.

[jdub]

My dentist (who's doing my ortho work) is a woman and is probably the best dentist I've been to - great communication skills and good work. The staff is also all female. Come to think of it though, almost all of my previous dentists have been male.

JDub