The Cairo bulletin., 1908-03-06
WOMEN In DENTISTRY
ABOUT SEVENTEEN IN GREATER
NEW YORK.
Women Said to BE Fitted by Nature
To Practise Discrimin-
alton of the Men One Reason Why
There Are So Few.

the number of self-supporting wo
men have ceased to surprise any one
| That all things are possible to tn,
twentieth century woman is general,
admitted
Therefore nobody had much com
! ment to make on recent report
| from the census bureau at Washing
! ton, which sets forth that the 1888
$40 women now at work in the I'm.
! TIED States are following among
others, the callings OF pilots, bag.
gagemen, brakemen, conductors, en-
CINE drivers and other fields suppos-
ed TO belong to man, Yet even a de-
Cade 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.
or 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 den
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
tive years, that she mas been Obliged
to lengthen her Office hours.
In the case of no woman dentists
in New York, SO far as can be learn
ed, have money retarns at the start
been as slow as they generally are
In the case of young physicians. There
fore the seeming unpopuarity of
the dental profession with women
can't be accounted for on this score.
II is not easy to account tor 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 oy
women and far more popular meant |
work equally hard.
A third suggested that the expense !
of course In dentistry and of an |
office equipment was discouraging |
factor. There are, 1t appears. no
free scholarships in dentistry an- no |
free dental colleges or classes. In
fact, in New York there came near
Icing no place at all where WOMEN
could study dentistry and the condi-
lions under which they now study.
either here or in other cities are far
from ideal.
II do not find that woman den
list has any prejudice to combat. 1t
may have been different twenty years
ago, but today woman completes SUI
cessfully with man in almost every
line of work" Il
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 far from
deal.
Second the course is far from easy
L means long hours and hard work.
Third the expense of the course AMI
If fitting up an Office Is considerable
There are no dental schools or
dentist clinics for women only. no
'ooms which are placed at the dis
)osal of women workers. On en-
ering a dental school or college q.
woman is treated precisely as If she
we're a man. She must do her work
at all times by men, many
II whom resent the presence of wo-
nan at their elbow and don't hesi-
ate TO show it.
LAS TO her touch am certain that
woman's hands are far better suit
d for dentistry than most mems are
hey are smaller, more sensitive,
more supple. They have more deli
acy of touch.
ITO my way of thinking the only
hing which might stand in the way |
t a woman's success in dentistry is
er lack of power of concentration.
he average woman finds 1t almost !
to concentrate on one par
cu!ar point to the exclusion Of
verything else. Now IN dentistry
he operator must first get the con-
dence of the patient, get control Of
i'm or her. SO to speak. and then ,
on the point of a cavity
nd be oblivious to everything but
nat point and her instrunsspts I'M. a.,
] her work is done. r
Dentistry is a splendid profess
IN for women. know of none bet
n. But it rests with the student A
neither she shall be an artist or v
lumber. whether she shall bring 20 y
er work all her artistic and intel
ctual resources or merely treat IL
a purely mechanical proposftfofl. ..