Women in dentistry in the United States

Updated on Jan 01, 2025

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There is a long history of women in dentistry in the United States.

Timeline

1855: Emeline Roberts Jones became the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States. She married the dentist Daniel Jones when she was a teenager, and became his assistant in 1855.

1866: Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to graduate from a dental college (Ohio Dental College).

1869: Henriette Hirschfeld-Tiburtius, born in Germany, became the first woman to take a full college course in dentistry, as Lucy Hobbs Taylor received credit for her time in dental practice before attending dental college. She graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1869.

1874: Fanny A. Rambarger became the second American woman to earn the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1874, when she graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. She worked in Philadelphia and limited her practice to women and children only.

1890: Ida Gray Nelson Rollins became the first African-American woman to earn a dental degree in the United States, which she earned from the University of Michigan.

1892: The Women's Dental Association of the U.S. was founded in 1892 by Mary Stillwell-Kuesel with 12 charter members.

1916: Gillette Hayden became the first female president of the American Academy of Periodontology.

1920: Maude Tanner became the first recorded female delegate to the American Dental Association.

1921: During the annual meeting of the American Dental Association (ADA), several female dentists met in Milwaukee and formed the Federation of American Women Dentists, now known as the American Association of Women Dentists (AAWD). AAWD's first president, M. Evangeline Jordan, was one of the first to limit her practice to children and was a founder of pedodontics. She graduated from the University of California School of Dentistry in 1898.

1923: Anita Martin became the first woman inducted into the national dental honor society (Omicron Kappa Upsilon).

1951: Helen E. Myers of Lancaster, Pa., a 1941 graduate of Temple University, was commissioned as the Army Dental Corps’ first female dental officer in 1951.

1975: On July 1, 1975, Jeanne Sinkford became the first female dean of a dental school when she was appointed the dean of Howard University School of Dentistry.

1977: The American Association of Dental Schools (founded in 1923 and renamed the American Dental Education Association in 2000) had Nancy Goorey as its first female president in 1977.

1988: In 1988, the American Student Dental Association elected its first female president, N. Gail McLaurin of the Medical University of South Carolina.

1991: Geraldine Morrow became the first female president of the American Dental Association.

1997: Hazel J. Harper became the first female president of the National Dental Association.

2001: Marjorie Jeffcoat became the first female editor of The Journal of the American Dental Association.

2003: Rear Admiral Carol I. Turner became the first female Chief of the Navy Dental Corps.

2004: Sandra Madison, of Asheville, N.C., was elected as the first female president of the American Association of Endodontists.

2007: Laura Kelly became the first female president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

2008: Beverly Largent, a pediatric dentist from Paducah, Ky., became the first female president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

2008: Valerie Murrah became the first female president of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology.

2009: Kathleen T. O'Loughlin was chosen as the first female executive director of the American Dental Association.

2013: Gayle Glenn was elected as the first female president of the American Association of Orthodontists.

References

Women in dentistry in the United States Wikipedia

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