Female Pioneers: Changing the Face of Dentistry at the Sindecuse Museum

The latest exhibit at the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry – Women Dentists: Changing the Face of Dentistry – focuses on 23 pioneering women in the dentistry field, 9 of whom were U of M School of Dentistry alumni. The School of Dentistry boasted female graduates as early as the 1880s; the school’s first dean, Jonathan Taft, was an active advocate for women’s efforts in the field when many others looked to bar women from practicing.

Vern Van Fossen DDS, Paw Paw, Michigan, ca. 1905 (SMD 678.1) From the collections of the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan.

The exhibit covers more than these women’s dental careers by displaying their other notable accomplishments as well. Ida Gray was the first African American student, male or female, at any dental school in the United States; other female dentists were involved in the suffrage movement, and others still traveled far and wide to become the first women dentists in far-flung reaches of the country, including Texas and Alaska.

See an interview with the museum’s curator, Shannon O’Dell, check out coverage from AnnArbor.com, or visit the museum’s Facebook page for more information, to see photos, and even identify museum objects!

Visit the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry, located in the Kellog Building at the School of Dentistry. Museum hours are Monday – Friday, 8 am – 6 pm (except for major holidays). For detailed directions click here.