Emeline roberts jones biography

Emeline Roberts Jones (1836–1916) was the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States. She married the dentist Daniel Jones when she was a teenager (at age 18) but she did not become his assistant until 1855.

Her husband believed that dentistry was not a suitable career for a woman. He thought the “frail and clumsy fingers” of women made them poor dentists. However, she studied in secret and after Emeline showed him a two-quart jar of several hundred of his extracted teeth she had secretly filled he allowed her to assist him.