Women and the world of dentistry

It was only in 1895 that the first woman dentist in the UK graduated from E dinburgh Dental School, and a further 17 years until a women was granted a dental qualification from The Royal College of Surgeons of England. At arou nd this time cartoons began to appear, flippantly depicting women to be wor king in a profession regarded by many as masculine. Over the following year s women dentists became more accepted, although as recently as the 1960's w omen were encouraged to enter certain branches of the profession where it w as thought that they would be most useful. Government publications of this era encouraged women dentists to join the Maternity and Child Welfare Servi ce and the School Health Service. It was felt that this work would be parti cularly suitable for them and that child patients would react more favourab ly to women dentists.