. . . is but a microcosm of broader national trends. A trio of highly accomplished former Lucy Hobbs Award winners reflect on the ever-greater numbers of women enrolled in American dental schools.

Leading lights: (From left) Dr. Careen Young, Industry Icon Award, 2013; Dr. Maria Maranga, Mentorship Award, 2014; Dr. Lisa Simon, Woman to Watch Award, 2020

IT’S NOT NEWS to readers of Incisal Edge that dental schools nationwide are seeing increasing numbers of female enrollees—and indeed, women have made up a majority of U.S. dental students for several years now. We’d like to think the Lucy Hobbs Project, inaugurated nine years ago, has helped usher forth that transition, which will change the patient-forward face of dentistry remarkably in the years and decades ahead.

Just how far that influence has spread was evident in the announcement, at the start of the recent school year, that Indiana University School of Dentistry had a record number of female enrollees: 66 of the incoming class of 108, or 61 percent.

I look forward to seeing dentistry continue to evolve to better reflect the communities we serve.”
—Dr. Lisa Simon

Indiana’s enrollment figures exemplify, in miniature, a larger trend, in which the share of female dentists nationwide rose from 24.1 percent in 2010 to 34.5 percent in 2020, while the share of female dental-school grads rose from 46 percent in 2009 to a bare majority, 50.6 percent, in 2019 (the most recent year for which official figures are available).

“The equitable amounts of women entering dentistry show that our profession is capable of growing to be more inclusive and more just,” Dr. Lisa Simon, recipient of the 2020 Lucy Hobbs Woman to Watch Award, tells Incisal Edge. “I look forward to seeing dentistry continue to evolve to better reflect the communities we serve. Welcome, new colleagues, to a wonderful career.”

Dr. Careen Young, the inaugural recipient of the Lucy Hobbs Industry Icon Award in 2013, related the gains to her own experience early in her career. “Once upon a time, I was only the third woman accepted to [the University of Washington’s] prosthodontic program in 30 years,” she says. “Now there are significant numbers of women in all specialties, including prosthodontics and oral surgery.”

There is an incredible shift happening in the profession as more and more women choose dentistry.”
—Dr. Maria Maranga

Among the most high-profile women in the profession is Dr. Maria Maranga, second vice president of the American Dental Association, who was honored with the Lucy Hobbs Project’s Mentorship Award in 2014. She’s enthused not only about the raw numbers but also what they augur for the future of top industry positions like the one she currently occupies. “This is exactly the news I love to hear,” she exults. “There is an incredible shift happening in the profession as more and more women choose dentistry. Women are not only changing the makeup of the profession but also bringing their unique perspectives to their patients and colleagues. We know women are making strides in dental leadership, too, which is so important. But there is always more to be done, and we are continuing to find ways to amplify the influence of women in dentistry.”