Women and the world of dentistry

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