Women in dentistry in the United States

20th century

• 1904-1905: Faith Sai So Leong, also called Sai So Yeong, born in China,^[8] became the first Chinese-American woman to graduate from a school of dentistry and become a dentist in the United States.^[9] In 1904 she became the first woman of any race to graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry).^[10] In 1905 she was awarded the Doctor of Dental Surgery from that school,^[11] and after a trial of the State Board of Dental Examiners, which delayed the awarding of licenses, she was granted a dental license in August 1905.^[12]
• 1909: Minnie Evangeline Jordon established the first dental practice in the United States devoted only to pediatric patients.^[13]
• 1916: Gillette Hayden served as the first female president of the American Academy of Periodontology.^[14]
• 1920: Maude Tanner became the first recorded female delegate to the American Dental Association.^[15]
• 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). Their first president was Minnie Evangeline Jordon.^[7]
• 1923: Anita Martin became the first woman inducted into the national dental honor society (Omicron Kappa Upsilon).^[15]
• 1925: Minnie Evangeline Jordon published the first textbook on pedodontics, titled Operative Dentistry for Children.^[16][17][18]
• 1951: Helen E. Myers of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a 1941 graduate of Temple University, was commissioned as the Army Dental Corps' first female dental officer in 1951.^[3]
• 1975: On July 1, 1975, Jeanne Sinkford became the first female dean of an American dental school when she was appointed the dean of Howard University School of Dentistry.^[3]
• 1975: Jessica Rickert became the first female American Indian dentist in America upon graduating from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1975. She was a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and a direct descendant of the Indian chief Wahbememe (Whitepigeon).^[19]
• 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.^[20]
• 1988: The American Student Dental Association elected its first female president, N. Gail McLaurin of the Medical University of South Carolina.^[21]
• 1991: Geraldine Morrow became the first female president of the American Dental Association.^[22]
• 1993: Juliann Bluitt Foster became the first female president of the American College of Dentists.^[23]
• 1997: Hazel J. Harper became the first female president of the National Dental Association.^[24][25]
• 2001: Marjorie Jeffcoat became the first female editor of The Journal of the American Dental Association.^[26]
• 2003: Rear Admiral Carol I. Turner became the first female Chief of the Navy Dental Corps.^[15][27]
• 2004: Sandra Madison, of Asheville, North Carolina, was elected as the first female president of the American Association of Endodontists.^[28]
• 2007: Kaumudi Joshipura became the NIH endowed chair and director of the center for clinical research and health promotion at University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus.^[29][30]
• 2007: Laura Kelly became the first female president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.^[31]
• 2008: Beverly Largent, a pediatric dentist from Paducah, Ky., became the first female president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.^[32]
• 2008: Valerie Murrah became the first female president of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology.^[33]
• 2009: Kathleen T. O'Loughlin was chosen as the first female executive director of the American Dental Association.^[34]
• 2013: Gayle Glenn was elected as the first female president of the American Association of Orthodontists.^[35][36]