What's in a name? Nominative determinism in the UK dental workforce.

Background Nominative determinism describes the theory that people are more likely to pursue careers that are connected to their names. Compelling research has been carried out across the medical professions that provides strong evidence for this phenomenon, but as yet its applicability to the UK dental workforce remains unknown.Aim The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of dentally-related surnames in the UK dental workforce (dentists and dental care professionals) and compare this to the UK population.Results Dentistry may provide a surprising counter-example to prevailing theories of nominative determinism, as UK dentists are significantly less likely than the UK general population to have dentally-related surnames. This new phenomenon of 'nominative antideterminism' was not observed in the dental care professional (DCP) cohort, for whom the prevalence of dentally-related surnames was similar to that in the wider UK population.