The British Dental Association, Faculty of General Dental Practice UK and College of General Dentistry have joined forces to conduct a survey into discrimination in dentistry.

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The survey is aimed at all dentists who have ever practised dentistry in the UK, and at dental students studying in the UK, and asks about their morale and career satisfaction as well as any experiences they may have had of being treated unfairly whilst working or studying.

Feedback from the survey will be anonymised, and the data and experiences captured will be used to identify and raise awareness of the ways in which discrimination is experienced in dentistry.

In recent months, the three organisations have convened a programme board to promote joint working on issues of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in dentistry, as well as a joint working group to investigate racial inequality in particular. The survey results will help these groups take forward evidence-based actions to address the underlying issues, and to promote greater understanding in the profession of the experiences and concerns of their fellow dentists.

The survey is available at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/racismindentistry/.

Russ Ladwa, President of the BDA (pictured), said: 'Discrimination is unfortunately still a feature of our society, and dentistry is far from immune, but this survey is an important step towards understanding and addressing the issue in our profession, and I encourage all dentists to complete it'.