Amazing Women in Dental History

14 Mar Amazing Women in Dental History

March is National Women’s History Month, which we thought would be a wonderful time to celebrate some of the women who paved the way for Bradenton, Florida dentist Dr. Tiffany Boyd and her colleagues. 

According to the website History of Dentistry, “Emeline Roberts Jones became the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States in 1855.” It would be more than 10 years before Lucy Hobbs Taylor earned her spot in the history books as the first woman to graduate from a dental college. 

Groundbreaking Women in Dentistry

Other notable milestones in the history of women dentists, according to the website, are:

• 1890: Ida Gray Rollins became the first African-American woman to earn a dental degree in the U.S.
• 1892: The Women’s Dental Association of the U.S. was founded.
• 1920: Maude Tanner served as a delegate to the American Dental Association convention, she is credited as being the first woman to do so.
• 1951: the U.S. Army Dental Corps received its first female commissioned officer, Helen E. Myers. (It would be more than 50 years before the service would be led by a woman. Rear Admiral Carol I. Turner took up the post of Chief of the U.S. Navy Dental Corps in 2003.)
• 1991: Geraldine Morrow became the first woman elected as president of the American Dental Association. 

Caring for the Needs of Children

Although most of their names will never be recorded in the history books, it was women dentists who played a particularly important role when it came to providing professional care geared toward the specific dental health needs of children.  

M. Evangeline Jordan, who graduated from dental school in 1898, is generally considered to be the founder of pedodontics, focusing her practice on the unique dental health needs of children.

Even though a woman was given credit for establishing the practice of pedodontics, it would be more than 100 years before the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry had its first woman president. Beverly Largent was elected to that role in 2008.

We hope you will join with all of us at Braden River Dental in Bradenton, Florida in celebrating the accomplishments of these amazing women.