The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-08-01
WOMEN IN DENTISTRY
ABOUT SEVENTEEN in GREATER
NEW YORK.
Women Said To Bc Fitted by Nature
to Practise Dcntistry-Discrimin
There Are So Few.

Reports of the invasion by women
of Industries once followed by men
only and of the steady Increase in
the number of self-supporting wo-
men have ceased to surprise any one.
That all things are possible to the
twentieth century woman Is generally
admitted.
Therefore nobody had much COM
ment to make on a recent report
from the census bureau at Washing
| ton, which sets forth that the 1893.
$50 women now at work In the I'm
itel States are following among
| others, the callings of pilots, bag
gagemen, brakemen, conductors, en-
gine drivers and other fields suppos-
ed to belong to man. Yet even a de-
oade ago most of these occupations
had not been entered at all by wo-
men. But what is surprising is the
statement that in this big city there
are not more than seventeen women
| dentists in good standing; that Is,
dentists who conduct their business
according to the ethics of the pro-
fession, says the New York Sun.
OF the seventeen two live In
Brooklyn, The others have offices
in Manhattan and four at least have
| practices as lucrative as those OF
some Of the most successful men dem
| lists, having offices near Fifth aven.
ue and numbering wealthy persons
! among their clients. So in demand
are the services of one of the four.
who has been practising less than
| five years, that she has been obliged
| to lengthen her Office hours.
In the case Of no woman dentists
in New York, SO far as can be learn
cd, have money returns at the start
| been as slow as they generally are
; IN the case of young physicians. There
! fore the seeming unpopularity OF
the dental profession with women
can't be accounted for on this score.
! 1t is not easy to account for it on any
! score.
| 1T is an ideal profession for wo-
men," one of the four star dentists
/ said, with conviction.
! To be successful means hard
work." said another, who admitted
that other lines of work followed Dy
women and far more popular meant
work equally hard.
third suggested that the expense
! of a course in dentistry and OF an
| office equipment was discouraging
| factor. There are, 1t appears, no
! free scholarships in dentistry anc no
! free dental colleges or classes. In
fact, in New York there came near
! being no place at all where women
could study dentistry and the condi-
| tions under which they now study,
! either here or in other cities are far
from ideal.
Il do not find that woman dem
tist has any prejudice to combat. 1t
may have been different twenty years
ago, but today woman competes SUI
cessfully with man in almost every
line of work"
why, then" the dentist was ask
ed ARE there so few women dentists
in New York;"
| 9Th chief reasone are these: First,
the conditions under which women
students must work are fur from
ideal.
Second the course Is far from easy
It means long hours and hard work.
Third the expense of the course and
OF fitting up an Office is considerable.
| There are no dental schools or
dentist clinics for women only, no
rooms which are placed at the dis
posal of women workers. On en-
tering q dental school or college q
woman is treated precisely as II she
were q man. She must do her work
surrounded at all times by men, many
of whom resent the presence of wo-
man at their elbow and don't hesi-
tate to show 1t.
"As to her touch am certain that
woman's hands are far better suit
cd for dentistry than most mems are.
They are smaller, more sensitive.
more supple. They have more deli
cacy Of touch.
ITO my way of thinking the only
thing which might stand in the way
of woman's success in dentistry is
her lack of power of concentration.
The average woman fnds 1t almost
impossible to concentrate on one par
ticular point to the exclusion Of
everything else. Now in dentistry
the operator must first get the con-
fdence of the patient, get control Of
him or her, so to speak. and then
concentrate on the point OF cavity
and be oblivious to everything but
that point and her instruments un-
til her work is done.
Dentistry Is a splendid profess
ion for women. know Of none bet
ter. But 1t rests with the student
whether she shall be an artist or a
plumber, whether she shall bring to
her work all her artistic and intel
lectual resources or merely treat It
as a purely mechanical proposition.