President’s Message

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Women’s History Month

In 1980, the week of March 8 was declared by then President Jimmy Carter to be National Women’s History Week. This recognition was renewed by later presidents until 1987, when Congress designated March as “Women’s History Month.” At a recent TDA Board meeting, I was reminded of the achievements, courage, and perseverance that women have similarly made in the profession of dentistry. For the first time in TDA history, the women on the TDA Board outnumber their male counterparts.

As we take time to recognize and honor the growing diversity within the TDA, I would first like to honor the women who helped lay the foundation for myself and for countless others within the profession. Their contribution to the dental profession is invaluable.

Emeline Roberts Jones, a New England native, married dentist Daniel Jones in 1854 at the age of 18. Jones believed that women were not suited for the profession because of their “frail and clumsy fingers.” Emeline began to secretly study dentistry. After she had filled and extracted several hundred teeth, her husband allowed her to practice with him. At the time she was just 19. At the age of 23, she became his partner. She eventually took over the practice when her husband died in 1865. Emeline traveled around Connecticut and Rhode Island before settling in New Haven. She practiced for 6 decades and in 1914 was made an honorary member of the National Dental Association. While Emeline Roberts Jones was the first woman to practice dentistry, it wasn’t until 1866 that the first woman, Lucy Hobbs Taylor, earned her DDS at age 33. Dr Taylor and her 9 siblings were orphaned when she was just 12 years old and she spent much of her childhood supporting her family by working as a seamstress.

Emeline Roberts Jones

Dr Lucy Hobbs Taylor

Dr Ida Gray

Dr Leonie von Meusebach–Zesch

She still devoted time to her education and moved to Michigan where she taught for 10 years. Because of her gender, Dr Taylor was denied entry into the medical college to which she applied. Not taking no for an answer, she went directly to the faculty and a supervisor from Eclectic Medical College agreed to tutor her. From there she applied to the Ohio College of Dentistry but was refused admission again. However, Dr Jonathan Taft of the Ohio College of Dentistry, agreed to tutor Lucy.

Eventually Dr Taylor opened her own practice in Cincinnati in 1861, and finally, 7 years after she had begun her dental studies, she received her DDS degree in 1866 through the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. Dr Taylor met her husband the following year and her love for dentistry was contagious! She convinced him to pursue his degree and the pair practiced for another 20 years. By 1900, nearly 1,000 women followed in Lucy Taylor’s footsteps as they began a career in dentistry.

Ida Gray, the first AfricanAmerican dentist, (also referred to as Ida Gray Rollins or Ida Gray Nelson) grew up an orphan much like Lucy Hobbs Taylor. Overcoming an unfortunate childhood, Dr Gray was also tutored by Dr Jonathan Taft when she began working in his office while studying at Gaines High School in Chicago. She gained enough knowledge to enter the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1887 and graduated in 1890. While Dr Gray grew up attending a segregated school, she became famous first in Cincinnati for seeing both Black and white patients. When she began to practice in Chicago, she inspired one of her patients, Olive M. Henderson, to become the city’s second Black female dentist.

Dr Gray’s passion about civic matters was as strong as her passion for dentistry. She was the vice president of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago, the vice president of the Eighth Regiment Ladies’ Auxiliary, and she was a member

TDA President Debrah J. Worsham, DDS

of the Phyllis Wheatley Club (a group that worked to maintain the only Black women’s center in Chicago).

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, female dentists were becoming influencers both in the field of dentistry and in their communities. Dr Leonie von Meusebach–Zesch’s impacted the lives of those affected by the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the Great Depression, and beyond. In 1902, she earned her DDS from the San Francisco College of Physicians and Surgeons. Leonie began as a dentist’s assistant but soon forged her own dental career path, leaving a legacy that spanned Texas to Alaska.

Following the devastating San Francisco earthquake, Dr Meusebach-Zesch became a dental surgeon with the U.S. Army and

treated earthquake refugees with her mother helping her document survivors as a volunteer with the Red Cross. Following the earthquake recovery efforts, Dr Meusebach-Zesch went into private practice and worked as a dentist in the San Francisco Children’s Hospital and in the Maria Kipp Orphanage.

In 1912, she began to hold mobile dental clinics out of her Model T Ford in the state of Arizona, treating all school children free of charge. After moving to Alaska in 1915, she often traveled using a dog sled to reach patients. Returning to California in 1930, with the Great Depression in full swing, she joined the Unemployed Exchange Association and offered dental services on a barter basis. Dr Meusebach-Zesch also donated services to unemployment camps and school children. In 1937 she became the dentist for the California Institute for Women where she taught female inmates to assist. She also worked with migrant laborers and convict labor camps. If her life sounds amazing, that’s because it was!

One thing these women all had in common was determination and perseverance and most had mentors who influenced their careers. I challenge each of you to take the time to mentor a predental student, dental student, or new dentist. The impact could last for decades!

Female Dentists Make TDA History

Finally, the National Women’s History Alliance designates a yearly theme for women’s history month and the theme for 2022 is “women providing healing, promoting hope.” According to the group this is “both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history.” I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the women on the frontlines of healthcare during the last two and half years for their contribution to women’s history.

For the first time in TDA history, female members of the TDA Board outnumber their male counterparts. Picture are the most recent TDA Board meeting are (L-R) Dr Georganne McCandless, Dr Carmen Smith, Dr Glenda Owen, Dr Shailee Gupta, Immediate Past President Dr Jacqueline Plemons, President Dr Debrah Worsham, Executive Director Linda Brady, Dr Jodi Danna, Dr Summer Roark, Dr Teri Lovelace and Dr Elizabeth Goldman.