The dental sector is currently undergoing a profound generational change. In episode #136 of the podcast 'Queens & Sons of Dentistry', recorded at Dental Summer in Timmendorfer Strand, the Berlin-based dentist Valeria Sabet, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of the learning platform Wisdom, describes how differently the generations in dentistry now think – and why the established side often barely notices anything of the one coming up behind it.
Two generations that barely meet any more
Sabet, born in 1995 and therefore, by her own classification, part of 'the last year of the millennials', sees herself as caught between two worlds: she still remembers the early days of digitalisation around 2008, when the iPhone and iPad came onto the market, yet she works closely with digital natives of Generation Z who grew up entirely with social media. From this dual perspective she observes that two currents are moving through the sector which take little notice of one another. Many associations, she says, have largely lost their connection to the new generation – above all during the coronavirus period, when people no longer networked with one another. It was precisely into this phase that the first Generation Z graduates entered the profession: they completed their state examination after the pandemic and started out as assistant dentists without ever having built up contact with the generation before them. The result, as Sabet describes it, is a palpable decoupling.
Purpose instead of traditional role models
With the generational change, values are shifting as well. In the past, according to Sabet, the typical topics ascribed to women in the dental sector revolved around reconciling self-employment with family life and around establishing oneself in a sector that was then strongly male-dominated. Today, by contrast, self-realisation is at the centre: young female dentists ask themselves which subjects they wish to tackle in their lives – perhaps self-employment, but perhaps a specialisation first. The guiding question is no longer 'practice and family', but rather: how do I want to realise myself, as a dentist and as a person? The big word purpose has established itself in this generation as the central yardstick.
A female share of 75 per cent: the future is female
That this change will not remain a footnote is something Sabet illustrates with a figure: in around ten years, an estimated 75 per cent of the dental profession will be female. The first entirely female cohorts already exist. Her conclusion in the podcast is unambiguous: any company that does not approach its new female customers will not survive in the long run. The sector has to be ready – whether it wants to be or not.
Instagram and TikTok as the new regulars' table
The difference becomes particularly clear when looking at the landscape of professional associations. From the point of view of many young colleagues, classic associations come across as an 'old boys' club', says Sabet. The new generation does not need an association with a regulars' table if it can network via a WhatsApp group, a FaceTime call or Instagram – Instagram and TikTok are the new regulars' table. Contact with companies is also digital: a tagged photo is enough to establish a connection with a firm. The leadership of the associations, by contrast, is frequently over 60 years old, has lived the sector in its accustomed form for more than 30 years and in some cases has no relationship with Instagram at all. Sabet therefore expects a marked decline in the number of associations. The more commercial an area is, the sooner it feels the change and improves – simply because young participants staying away means a loss of revenue.
Visible role models for the next generation
What the young generation also lacks, in Sabet's observation, are female role models. In some specialist fields she has to think for a long time about who might be considered as a speaker there, whereas at the keyword 'TikTok dentist' everyone immediately has the same name to hand. As a positive example she cites the Generation Z dentist Anna Neubart, who documented her studies on social media and today shows what it means to work in a practice as an employed dentist of Generation Z – including the remarks that female dentists still have to listen to, such as the question of whether they are 'the dental nurse'. In doing so she fulfils an important role-model and educational function for female students who otherwise find only few mentors in the sector.
The conversation shows that the shift in values in dentistry has long been under way. Those who take the new generation seriously, understand its channels of communication and offer it visible role models can shape the transition actively – all others run the risk of losing touch with the majority of the future dental profession.