ABSTRACT
Women have probably been practising dentistry for centuries, being admitted usually as apprentices, but sometimes by patrimony. Several women are known to have practised dentistry in England in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, some of them being described by Menzies Campbell and Edwina Kidd. In Britain prior to 1878 no formal qualification was necessary to practise dentistry although the Royal College of Surgeons of England and later that in Scotland, had already established a Diploma obtainable by examination. The majority of those practising dentistry had trained by serving an apprenticeship. The needs of children for dental treatment had been established by an investigative committee set up by the British Dental Association in 1890. It is difficult at this point to know what were the real opportunities for women dentists in the 1920s and 30s. Friend carried out a survey among 66 women dentists who had graduated from the Birmingham Dental School between 1950 and 1965.
