Thursday 28 August 2014

The Stree in dentistry!

Women in dentistry is not a novel phenomena. In fact in any given dental college, the number of admissions of girls to boys, the ratio is always skewed towards the female population. My batch alone had seventy odd girls out of a hundred.Many parents choose to admit their daughters to the dental profession because it affords the respectability associated with being a doctor without the hassle of late night emergencies.
   Women dentists world over are working neck to neck with their male counterparts and have even embraced and out shown in the erstwhile male domain of Maxillofacial surgery.Being the daughter of the first lady president of the Oral and Maxillofacial Association in India i know first hand how tough the journey was for my mother to be first accepted and now glorified nationwide for her accomplishments. 
    Persistence, hard work and perseverance pays irrespective of gender. Having said that women are naturally empathetic and hence half the job is easier once you have laid to rest the patients dental fears and phobias. Women are also naturally gifted with a heightened sense of esthetics. P.S. ( I always allow my lady patients to assist me in selecting the shade of their restoration after all those years of practice of matching saree blouses does come in handy! ) 
       What led me write this piece is the shocking execution of Dr. Rou’aa Diab for treating male patients. Having studied in an Islamic institute namely Yenepoya Dental and medical college which was established to encourage Muslim women to study whilst upholding their religious beliefs, this deeply saddens me as I know for a fact that it's a gross misrepresentation of what Muslim women should and shouldn't do. A patient is patient irrespective of gender, there is a certain degree of decorum and an unspoken code of conduct followed by all doctors whether in dentistry or medicine.
    I've often been asked how i work on actors/models without being attracted to them, but honestly even in the face of gorgeousness its never happened.The entire focus is solely geared to maximize patient comfort, alleviate fears and restore and replace smiles with the best possible outcome.
       So its rather unfathomable that in this day and age there could be such a high price to pay for treating patients of the opposite sex.After all i am sure that no one slogs and toils for eight odd years inclusive of specialization  to hold a degree solely for the purpose of  ornamental value of the walls that they grace in our dental offices alone. It is a service industry and should be free of all gender biases at all levels.
        In deep condolence for Dr. Rou’aa Diab and may her story be an inspiration and not a deterrent to women power in dentistry the world over.