Published for International Women's Day, this post profiles several pioneering women in the history of dentistry.
Emeline Roberts Jones is described as the first woman to practice dentistry in the US. Her dentist husband initially disapproved, so she studied and practiced in secret; once he learned of her skill, he let her join his practice, and she eventually took it over after his death.
Vada Somerville is described as the second African American woman to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in California, at USC, and the first African American woman licensed to practice dentistry in the state. She pursued dentistry partly so she could keep her dentist husband's practice running if he were drafted during World War I, and was the only woman and only Black student in her class.
Jeanne Sinkford began studying at Howard University at age 16 and went on to become the first female dean of a US dental school. She received the ADA's Distinguished Service Award in 2015 and remains a dean and professor emeritus at Howard.
Lucy Hobbs Taylor is described as the first woman in the world to graduate from dental school. After being turned away from two Ohio dental schools, she trained under private tutors and practiced in Iowa without a formal degree, then enrolled as a senior once the Ohio College of Dentistry lifted its ban on women, becoming the first woman worldwide to earn a doctorate in dentistry.
Evangeline Jordan is credited as the first dentist to specialize in pediatric dentistry. She ran a dental clinic at a San Francisco orphanage while in school, later limited her Los Angeles practice to children, gave an influential 1916 talk connecting diet (less sugar, more milk, eggs, and vegetables) to children's dental health, and wrote the first pediatric dentistry textbook in 1925.
The post notes that despite repeated requests during both World Wars, women dentists were denied the chance to serve as military dentists and were only accepted as nurses.
Sara Krout, a Latvian immigrant with dental degrees from Latvia and the University of Illinois, became the first woman dentist in the US Navy in 1944 by joining the WAVES program, since military rules barred her from enlisting directly as a female dentist. She served at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station from 1944 to 1946 and remained in the Naval Reserve until 1961.
Ida Gray Nelson is described as the first African American woman to become a dentist in the US. Inspired by working for early women's-dentistry advocate Jonathan Taft, she worked her way through school as a seamstress, graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, and ran a practice serving both Black and white patients from 1890 to 1928, known for her gentleness with children.
Leonie von Meusebach-Zesch, born in Texas, served underserved populations throughout her career -- providing care to Civilian Conservation Corps workers and inmates at the California Institute for Women during the Depression, then practicing in Arizona (including patients from the Hopi and Navajo communities, using mobile equipment mounted on her car), and finally spending 15 years in the Alaska Territory, reaching remote villages by plane (surviving a crash) and by dog sled.