Breaking Barriers: How Budding Black Dentists is Transforming Specialist Dentistry

A Historic Gathering at the Royal College of Surgeons

In July, around 100 aspiring dentists, dental students, early-career clinicians, specialists, and educators gathered at the Royal College of Surgeons for the first-ever Budding Black Dentists conference. This sold-out event was designed to make specialist careers more visible and accessible to Black dental professionals.

The Stark Reality of Representation

The conference takes place against a backdrop of significant underrepresentation. According to the General Dental Council, Black, Black British, Caribbean, and African dentists account for just 2.1% of the UK dental register. While there has been slight improvement, representation remains critically low, especially in dental academia where Black clinical academics are significantly underrepresented.

Creating Pathways into Specialist Dentistry

The conference offered seven hours of CPD, combining specialist panel discussions with hands-on workshops in implant dentistry, suturing, and intravenous cannulation. This practical approach allowed delegates to experience specialist skills firsthand.

Simisola Fynn-Famodun, CEO and founder, emphasized the intentional design: "We had clinical as well as educational exposures."

The programme was shaped by the community itself. Before finalizing speakers and sessions, Budding Black Dentists asked prospective attendees what they wanted. Alongside specialist careers, delegates requested discussions on financial planning, technology, innovation, and wellbeing.

Even the venue was carefully chosen. "To specialise, you actually have to do specialist exams at the Royal College of Surgeons," Fynn-Famodun explains. "So we said, yeah, we're going to see if we can get our conference at that venue just to have that link."

The impact was immediate. Delegates told Fynn-Famodun they "didn't know that speciality existed" or that "dentists do cannulation." The exposure was eye-opening.

Why Representation Matters

The conference is the culmination of a journey that began during Fynn-Famodun's studies at the University of Plymouth. While working part-time at Asda, she encountered many people who said they had once wanted to study dentistry but faced barriers like "I didn't know how to get into the profession" or "I didn't think I was smart enough."

Her own experience was different, thanks to meeting a Black practice owner during work experience. "I never saw it as something that was unattainable to me," she says. "But I realised that was a barrier that other people experienced."

These conversations led to the creation of Budding Black Dentists in 2020, initially providing free mock interviews, mentoring, and outreach.

Representation extends beyond entry into the profession. Fynn-Famodun recalls a lecture on sepsis where a Black student had to research how the condition presents in darker skin because it wasn't covered in teaching. "She said she'd love to know how to identify sepsis in her own family," Fynn-Famodun shares. This became a defining moment, highlighting the need for diversity in the dental curriculum as well as the workforce.

Evidence of Impact

Although this was the first conference, its impact was already visible. Former attendees of mock interview workshops approached the team to say they were now studying dentistry. One has even joined the charity as a volunteer.

Dara, social media manager, experienced this firsthand: "Just hearing those stories, it just made me realise that what the work that we're doing is actually having an impact."

Budding Black Dentists has no plans to grow for the sake of it. Future conferences will continue to be shaped by community needs, ensuring that the organization remains responsive and impactful.

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