Around 100 aspiring dentists, dental students, early-career clinicians, specialists and educators gathered at the Royal College of Surgeons in July for the first Budding Black Dentists conference, a sold-out event designed to make specialist careers more visible and accessible to Black dental professionals.
The conference comes at a time when Black, Black British, Caribbean and African dentists account for just 2.1% of the UK dental register, according to the General Dental Council’s latest registration statistics. While representation has improved slightly in recent years, it remains low, particularly within dental academia, where Black clinical academics continue to be significantly underrepresented.
For Budding Black Dentists CEO and founder Simisola Fynn-Famodun, the aim was to make specialist careers feel tangible.
Creating pathways into specialist dentistry
The conference programme offered seven hours of CPD. It combined specialist panel discussions with hands-on workshops in implant dentistry, suturing and intravenous cannulation, allowing delegates to experience skills associated with specialist practice rather than simply hearing about them.
‘We had clinical as well as educational exposures,’ says Fynn-Famodun.
The programme itself was shaped by the community. Before confirming speakers and sessions, Budding Black Dentists asked prospective attendees what they wanted from the day. Alongside specialist careers, delegates requested discussions on financial planning, technology and innovation, and wellbeing.
‘We were literally just listening,’ she says. ‘That’s what I mean by intentional.’
Even the venue was carefully chosen.
‘To specialise, you actually have to do specialist exams at the Royal College of Surgeons,’ Fynn-Famodun says. ‘So we said, yeah, we’re going to see if we can get our conference at that venue just to have that link.’
The practical approach appeared to resonate.
Fynn-Famodun said some delegates told her that they ‘didn’t know that speciality existed,’ she says. ‘This is my first time… getting stuck in with suturing, or… I didn’t know dentists do cannulation. It was just a lot of exposure.’
For dentist and Budding Black Dentists’ social media manager Dara, the conference, which was supported by Bupa Dental Care, addressed a gap that many young professionals experience.
‘I think there were a lot of early career dentists as well, just like myself, who haven’t actually had the exposure to specialties for a prolonged period of time,’ she says.
Why representation matters
The conference is the latest chapter in a journey that began with conversations Fynn-Famodun had while studying dentistry at the University of Plymouth and working part-time at Asda.
When she told people she was studying dentistry, many responded by saying they had once wanted to enter the profession but never believed it was achievable.
‘I remember they’ll ask me what I’m doing, and I say dentistry, and they’ll be like, “Oh, I wanted to do that.”‘
The reasons soon became familiar.
‘There was a lot of people saying I wanted to do that, but there were so many barriers… “I didn’t know how to get into the profession… I didn’t think I was smart enough to get in.”‘
Her own experience had been different. During work experience, she met a Black practice owner, giving her a sense that dentistry was an attainable career.
‘I never saw it as something that was unattainable to me. But I realised that was a barrier that other people experienced.’
Those conversations led to the creation of Budding Black Dentists in 2020, initially providing free mock interviews, mentoring and outreach to support aspiring dental students.
Representation, however, extends beyond who enters the profession.
Fynn-Famodun recalls attending a two-hour lecture on sepsis before another Black student went home to research how the condition presents in darker skin because it had not been covered in teaching.
‘She said she’d love to know how to identify sepsis in her own family. Unfortunately… we weren’t shown how to identify that in a darker-skinned individual.’
The experience became a defining moment for the organisation, highlighting the importance of improving diversity within the dental curriculum as well as the workforce.
Evidence of impact
Although the conference was the organisation’s first, its impact was measured in the people returning through the doors.
Former attendees of Budding Black Dentists’ mock interview workshops approached the team to say they were now studying dentistry.
‘There were some dental students who were coming up to us saying, “Hey, we’ve actually partook in your mock interview workshop a few years back, and now we’re in dental school.”‘
One has since joined the charity as a volunteer.
Dara experienced something similar. Students recognised videos she had posted while still at dental school and explained how seeing someone who looked like them had encouraged them to pursue the profession.
‘Just hearing those stories, it just made me realise that what the work that we’re doing is actually having an impact,’ she says.
Budding Black Dentists has no plans to grow simply for the sake of it. Future conferences, Fynn-Famodun says, will continue to be shaped by what the community says it needs.
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