Ever wonder how long Dental Assistants and Dental Hygienists
have been part of the dental team?
The role of Dental Assistant dates to 1904 when Dr. C. N.
Johnson was lecturing at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery on major factors
of setting up an office. He mentioned
employing what he termed a Dental Assistant.
In 2013, Dr. Johnson published Success in Dental Practice in
which he endorsed the broad scope of employing a Dental Assistant. A quote from his book addresses this
concept: “The Assistant has taken from
practitioners much of the detail and drudgery of his daily task and left him
free to concentrate on the science and technical problems of his practice, and
in this, she has added most materially to his efficiency and the output of his
service.
The role of Dental Hygienist began in 1905 when Dr. A. C.
Fones, Bridgeport, CT, trained his office assistant to do prophys for children,
making her the first hygienist in the world.
In November 1913 Dr. Fones opened the Fones Clinic for Dental Hygienists
in his garage. Dental school deans and
professors served free of charge to train the first class that produced 27
graduate Hygienists. Today there are
more than 120 schools in the U.S. for Dental Hygienists turning out about 2500
graduates per year.