Sir,- Just over a year ago colleagues at the University Dental Hospital of Manchester reported that their students appeared to lack motivation towards public service values but instead were driven by 'considerations of personal and financial gain' (BDJ 2002, 193: 471–3). Presenting the same questionnaire to fourth year undergraduates at Sheffield provided an interesting result. Sheffield students were much more likely to be motivated by public service values. This was most pronounced in the dimension of patient care and working with people where over 9 out of 10 students cited these as factors.

High income was less than half as likely to be a motivator, professional status and regular working hours were less important. More likely to be cited as motivators were security, a challenging career with diverse career opportunities, interest in science and opportunity to interact with people which Sheffield students cited more than twice as often. The reasons for this difference between students are unclear. However, these data may reassure those east of the Pennines supporting dentistry's public service dimension who were dismayed by the earlier findings.