Only 33% of dental consultants in Ireland are women, according to the report Women and Men in Ireland 2009 published by the Central Statistics Office last month.

At non-consultant level, women working in dentistry are better represented, with almost 49% of personnel being female.

To put this into perspective, in 2009 four out of five employees in the Irish health service were female, with women in the majority in most grades, excepting dental and medical services.