Women in dentistry

Women are depicted as assistant dentists in the Middle Ages.

Prior to the 19th century, dentistry was largely not yet a clearly defined and regulated profession with formal educational requirements.

When the profession was regulated in the 19th century, it took a while before women achieved the formal education and permission to engage in dentistry.

In the 19th century dentistry gradually became a regulated and clearly defined profession, and formal education come to be required to practice it.

This initially excluded women from dentistry; however formal education gradually became available to women in the 19th-century, resulting in the first formally educated female dentists.