What to do with the baby?

With an increasingly female dental workforce, it is worth noting that the impact of maternity leave, childcare and career breaks (despite recent Employment Law shifts towards shared parental responsibility) is likely to affect working patterns of the future. Any cultural trend affecting dental practices and their teams will inevitably have its impact upon patients, too.

It is commonly accepted that there is no perfect time to have a baby – especially if juggling plans for a family with a fulfilling career. Official figures show the UK's most common day to be born is 26 September – 38 weeks after 2 January so, for those of you planning to start or, indeed, expand your family this year, we've chosen a good time to discuss the preparations. However, whatever the due date, the birth of a child is more than likely to clash with a particular time in your working life that disrupts your progress up the career ladder, interrupts training and skills learning and delays any promotion or career plans as a result.