Dental Hygiene Program records

The University of Oregon Dental School’s Dental Hygiene Program in Portland, OR, formally began in 1949, but its earliest history begins in 1928. At this time, 48 women completed a 2-year dental hygiene course offered by North Pacific College of Oregon, which became the University of Oregon Dental School in 1945. Due to the fact that dental hygiene had not been formally recognized for practice in the state of Oregon, this program was quickly discontinued and graduates had to seek employment in other states. Despite these early legal troubles, in the fall of 1949, Oregon enacted a law which formally defined and recognized the practice of dental hygiene in the state, and a two-year dental hygiene curriculum was made available at the school once again with the aid of a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant. The certificate program eventually evolved into a baccalaureate program, retaining this accreditation until the program’s closure in 2003.

Initially, this two-year program awarded a certificate upon completion, but under department chair Rachel K. Espey (1966-1976), courses were upgraded and substantiated considerably, and by 1976, the certificate curriculum was phased out and replaced by one which awarded a bachelor’s degree upon completion. Under further guidance from department chair Margaret "Peg" Ryan (1977-1997), the program survived numerous budget cuts and fostered a spirit of camaraderie and support that was, in turn, adopted by faculty in their teaching styles and passed along to their students to embrace in their own practicing of dental hygiene. The Dental Hygiene Program committed itself, first and foremost, to the education of dental hygienists in the state of Oregon, but often hosted students from out-of-state as well.

While the department concerned itself with academic and institutional affairs, the program’s alumni group primarily functioned as a professional and social network that documented student and alumni activities, such as the “Prophy Pals” alumni newsletter (1956-1969) and the 1999 50th Jubilee. The Dental Hygiene Program was primarily comprised of (and operated by) a body of women in dentistry who were fully committed to uplifting and supporting each other in a time when dentistry (and perhaps medicine in general) were male-dominated fields. The close-knit nature of the program’s alumni is evident in the decades-worth of post-graduate networking, newsletters, and updates present in this collection, as well as the success of the program’s 50th Jubilee in 1999. Many former faculty and alumni have since gone on to hold similar positions at other institutions, including the Dental Hygiene program offered at Pacific University.