Sir, it was with some amusement that I read the opinion paper by Professors Kay and O'Brien on academic dentistry (BDJ 2006; 200: 73–74). It certainly paints a delightful picture of a Nirvana-like place for enquiring minds in Manchester; this bears no relation to the reality of any UK dental school, but fuels debate.

Life for a young academic is hard. First you have to juggle the competing pressures of an almost full-time consultant training pathway with teaching, administration and of course research. In practice this means that weekends are often sacrificed at a time when you ought to be with your family. You have to spend interminable hours writing grant applications which you know have little chance of being funded. In contrast to the assertions of Kay and O'Brien, this writing is always done without administrative support. Finally you have to establish your name in research, not easy, as this requires great effort and not a little luck.

I hope that Professors Kay and O'Brien's paper does stimulate more young people to enter academic dentistry, but I have my doubts. The real reason young people are not entering this part of the profession is because they want a life outside of their profession.

The way to attract young academics into dental schools is to have clearly defined, properly funded training pathways. A young academic's research should be supported and mentored in an internationally acclaimed academic group, something that seldom happens. Clinical training should be done imaginatively and with due regard to the competing pressures on time. There should be little teaching pressure for the first few years, rather than the common practice of 'dumping' courses on the most vulnerable. In short these valued young colleagues should be nurtured, protected and not used as workhorses.

I sincerely hope that Professors Kay and O'Brien have taken off their roseate-tinted spectacles and are in the process of creating attractive realistic jobs for young academics in Manchester. If they have done this there will be the sound of the thunder of feet to Manchester and their recruiting problem will be over.

Academic dentistry is not in a good state in the UK and pretending it is something it is not doesn't help to rectify the problem.