How do we define our heroes? Through their work? Through their beliefs? Through their sacrifices?
I can proudly say I have a friend and colleague that I know can be defined as hero status via all three. She is a mom, a wife, a Residency Program Director, a Professor, a Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist, and a public health advocate for children with special healthcare needs and underserved children. Who is this hero? She is Cristina León-Piñeda DMD, MPH, MSDS.
I was lucky to be able to catch her in between appointments and teaching to do this exclusive interview below.
First, let us learn a little history about women in dentistry. How did we get here?
We know that Dentistry is one of the oldest of what is considered a specialty of medicine. In recorded history, we see Dentistry pop up around 7000 B.C. in the Indus Valley Civilization. Later around 5000 B.C., Sumerian texts described “tooth worms” as a possible cause of dental caries. Of course, we later found that not to be the case. Pierre Fauchard was a French surgeon and considered the “Father of Dentistry” when he published his book The Surgeon Dentist, a Treatise on Teeth, in 1723. Fauchard was also the first to introduce the use of dental prostheses, fillings, and the idea that sugar acids possibly caused dental caries.
The first known documentation of women participating in the science and art of Dentistry shows up in the 18th century. In 1740, Madame-Francoise Calais was in France when she decided to take their compulsory exam to become a surgeon and practice in her name. She passed the test and was the first woman in France to be declared a professional dentist to practice dentistry legally.
As we headed into the 19th century, Josephine Serre became the first woman to receive a dental degree from the University of Tartu in Estonia (1814). In the United States, medical doctors were ahead of their dental colleagues. The first woman doctor started practicing in 1835, and the first female admitted to a medical college was Elizabeth Blackwell, who graduated from Geneva Medical College in New York. Emeline Roberts Jones became the first woman to practice dentistry in 1855. She was married to a Dentist and later became his assistant. She clandestinely trained herself to fill and extract teeth. Her husband later allowed her to practice with him and, upon her husband’s death, she continued to practice dentistry until 1915.
In the early 1900s, some dental schools started experimenting with allowing female students to attend while others refused to accept them. Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to graduate from a U.S. dental school. Her journey to graduation is a good example of the fortitude it took for a woman to be able to practice dentistry during those early years. She originally started work as a teacher in Michigan. She was later refused admission to study medicine at the Eclectic Medical College and to study dentistry at the Ohio College of Dentistry- both situated in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the time. Instead, she worked with a preceptor, Dr. Jonathan Taft, who was the dean of the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. She then did an apprenticeship with Dr. Samuel Wardle of Cincinnati, Ohio. She moved to Iowa where she established a successful practice. She was finally sponsored by the Iowa society of the American Dental Association as a dental student at the Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati. She graduated in 1866.
The 20th century saw many changes in the profession where women are concerned. A significant shift came after the 1960s when the women’s liberation movement aimed to address inequality faced by women in legal and social constructs. Oral contraceptives were introduced, and women of all ages could postpone or space out births. It also allowed them to pursue higher education and careers that were not possible in the past. In 1974, women could apply for credit without a male co-signer and the subsequent possibilities of starting a business. 1978 brought the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to protect pregnant women from the case of discrimination. Women represented 11% of dental school graduates in 1978. According to the American Dental Association, women comprised 56% of first-year dental students in 2021 — the highest rate ever.
So without further adieu, we celebrate our “Wonder Women” that shine in the profession of Dentistry. We are incredibly proud of those who devote their time and energy to a population of the most vulnerable in our society- children and those with special needs.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. My mother’s side of the family is Cuban and Spanish, and my father’s side of the family is Spanish and Puerto Rican. I am the oldest of two siblings and probably the adventurer. I attended dental school at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences campus after completing 3 years of college. Once I graduated dental School, I moved to Washington State where I completed an AEGD program at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Walla Walla. After completing my AEGD, my now husband and I moved to the Seattle area where I worked in a corporate office for one year and then transitioned to a Federally Qualified Health Center. During my time here, I completed a master’s in public health to be able to learn more about the setting and population I was working with and be able to provide them a better service. After almost 4 years working at the FQHC (HealthPoint) I decided to pursue a specialty in pediatric dentistry in San Antonio. I completed my pediatric dentistry residency program as well as a master’s in dental sciences. Soon after graduating, I joined a private practice part time and became a part time faculty at UT Health San Antonio. In 2020 I was offered a full-time position at UT Health San Antonio, and I stayed there until 2021 when a better opportunity arose in Colorado.
When did you first realize you wanted to become a dentist, and, most importantly, when did you know you wanted to become a pediatric dentist?
I always find it funny when I get this question because nobody in my family works in healthcare. I realized I wanted to be a dentist when I was in the sixth grade. My then dentist inspired me to become a dentist. I wish I could say I knew I always wanted to be a pediatric dentist, but this came after I started working. When I was in dental school, I swore I would never be an endodontist or pediatric dentist, yet here I am. Everything started changing soon after my daughter was born. When she received her cleft palate diagnosis, I started working harder to find ways to help her and, I guess, I started developing more patience and connection with pediatric patients. At that time, I was working at HealthPoint, and I was seeing most of the kids. In 2016 I decided to apply to pediatric dentistry I was able to start my residency in 2017.
Have you always wanted to teach?
No. I always said I was a bad teacher, and I didn’t have patience for it. Funny thing is that my mother was a college professor. When I was growing up, on the days I didn’t have school, I would go with my mom to the university where she was teaching at the time. I would sit in her classes and some of the classes her colleagues taught so I was exposed to teaching early on and on a regular basis. One year after I started working at HealthPoint, we started taking AEGD residents and we also had dental students from AT Still University rotate through our clinics. At that time, I did not have a choice except to mentor/teach residents and students. Surprisingly I loved the experience and wanted it to be part of my career. When I was completing my residency, I thought I would teach part time and be a private practitioner the rest of the time but by the time I was done with my residency I really wanted to teach full time.
The parents of the patients you have seen through the years must feel very trusting in your treatment and advice because of your daughter. Do you think it gives you a unique insight into the population of children we see?
Whenever I discuss treatment with parents from healthy or children with special needs, I always try to put myself in their shoes and be compassionate and understanding to what they are going through. For children who are similiar to my daughter or for those parents who may be going through things that I experienced with my daughter I do provide them with tools and techniques that worked for us and that maybe are not your typical recommendations. Having worked with speech pathologists, geneticists, occupational therapists and other specialists I’ve learned to modify or adapt what we call normal practices or techniques to ones that will work for my daughter, and I try to teach the same things to the parents of my patients.
We feel very blessed to have you as one of our new full-time faculty and Residency Program director. How are you and your family liking Colorado so far?
Thank you. I feel very lucky to have joined such a great program and have such a fantastic team. Although we are not huge fans of the snow, we do love living here. We are slowly getting around and visiting new places which so far, we have enjoyed. I feel my daughter will have unique opportunities here that otherwise she would have had if we live somewhere else.
In your field, is there anyone you admire or call a mentor whose approach you admire and try to emulate?
I have not been a pediatric dentist for too long, but I do admire one of my attendings when I was a resident and now good friend, Dr. Claudia Contreras. She is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met. She lives for her students and does everything in her power to ensure you receive a great education. I can say she is probably one of the people who pushed me beyond my limits and made me the pediatric dentist I am today. If it weren’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have applied for a job here in Colorado. She still challenges me and pushes me to be a better pediatric dentist and faculty.
How do you feel that this pandemic has changed you as a clinician? How do you think it has changed you as a person?
The pandemic changed everyone in one way or another. As I clinician I became more resilient. During the beginning of the pandemic, we had to think out of the box to provide treatment to our patients but at the same time comply with the rules the Texas government had put in place which included no aerosolizing procedures. Due to this major change in our regular practices, we started looking into other ways we could provide treatment to our patients. Some things that we started implementing that we were not doing before the pandemic were the hall crowns, ITR/ART, and SMART technique. Although it took some convincing to get these procedures approved, we were able to start providing care to our patients soon after the pandemic started.
As a person, I also became more resilient. I am someone who always has a plan and likes routines. With the pandemic all of our routines disappeared, and we had to live on a day-by-day basis. Learning to adapt to new situations and make the best out of it made me stronger and made me the person I am today. One thing I always try to keep in mind is that the pandemic affected everyone differently and we should appreciate what we have and also be empathic to others and their experiences.
Works Cited:
Campbell J. M. (1947). Early women dentists. British dental journal, 82(6), 123. | ||
Goldin, C. D. (2006b). The Quiet Revolution that Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family. Hellyer P. (2023). Women in dentistry. British dental journal, 234(1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-5409-x Ring M. E. (2000). A thousand years of dentistry. The New York state dental journal, 66(2), 39–41. Schulz, K. (2017). The Women’s Liberation Movement: Impacts and Outcomes. Berghahn Books. Taylor L. H. (1894). The Early Women in Dentistry. The Dental register, 48(1), 31–35. Waldman H. B. (1989). Dentists and dentistry changed in the 1980s. The Journal of the American College of Dentists, 56(4), 4–13. Westreich M. (1974). A history of dentistry. NADL journal, 21(8), . | ||