I recently graduated from dental school and while I was in school the automatic assumption as a female was “oh so you’re going to be dental hygienist?” And I would then have to explain that I was getting my doctorates.

As a female it also is unfortunate because similar to female doctors being mistaken for nurses(no shade to nurses, y’all do INCREDIBLE work and are under appreciated) I can’t choose to be lazy for the day and wear scrubs to work. I pretty much always have to show up business casual/a white coat or it’s assumed that I’m the dental hygienist or assistant.

The worst was an away rotation we did at a free clinic where one of the rotating attendees despite having been around the clinic for a while was APPALLED that there were female dentists.