Sir, I read with interest the letter from T. Kadiyo,1 especially his/her assertion of the risks (as he/she sees them) of not separating the terms 'black' and 'BAME'.

This begs another question - how far should sub-dividing go? Should we also be looking at the representation level of black men, black women, black trans people, black people with disabilities etc in dentistry? If not, why not?

T. Kadiyo wishes to see an end to the under-representation of black people in dentistry. Taken logically, this means that either places in dental schools are expanded to take more black people, or there is a reduction in over-represented groups to make room for under-represented groups. As it is very unlikely that the number of dental school places will be expanded in the near to medium-term future, this means that the latter must prevail. Following this logic, the most over-represented group (which I believe to be Asian females) must have their intake numbers reduced.

Think this cannot happen? In August 2020 the US Department of Justice after a two-year investigation charged Yale University with illegally discriminating against Asian applicants in violation of the Civil Rights Act (https://nypost.com/2020/08/13/yale-discriminates-against-white-asian-applicants-doj/). In other words, Asian applicants with the same qualifications as black applicants were much less likely to be accepted than the black applicants.

A great debate is required. Will it happen?