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. After her husband's death in 1864 she continued to practice dentistry by herself, in eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. She often traveled with a portable dentistry chair.
Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame. From 1876 until her retirement in 1915 she had her own practice in New Haven, Connecticut. It was one of the largest and most lucrative practices in Connecticut. She had two children, a son and a daughter. Emeline served on the Woman’s Advisory Council of the World’s Columbian Dental Congress in 1893. In 1912 she was elected to an honorary membership in the Connecticut State Dental Society, and in 1914 she was elected to an honorary membership in the

National Dental Association The National Dental Association (NDA) is a professional association of Minority group, minority dentists based in Washington, D.C., and operating in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Formed in 1913, it is the largest such association in ...

. She died in 1916 at age 80. In 1994 she was posthumously inducted into the

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers partn ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Roberts Emeline 1836 births 1916 deaths American dentists Women dentists 19th-century dentists 20th-century dentists

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