On February 21, 1866, Lucy Hobbs graduated from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, becoming the first woman in the world to earn a DDS degree.
On February 21, 1866, Lucy Hobbs graduated from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati and received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), making her the first woman in the world to graduate from a dental college and earn this professional degree.
This achievement came after more than five years of determined struggle. Hobbs had been rejected from medical schools and dental colleges alike simply because she was a woman, and had instead built a reputation as a competent, self-taught dentist through practices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Bellevue and McGregor, Iowa. Her eventual acceptance into the senior class at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in late 1865, following her landmark recognition by the Iowa State Dental Society, culminated in this historic graduation.
The significance of this event cannot be overstated: it opened the door for women's formal, credentialed participation in dentistry—a field that, like medicine, had been considered categorically unsuitable for women. Her degree provided legal and professional legitimacy that no woman had previously possessed in this profession anywhere in the world.
Following her graduation, Hobbs moved to Chicago to practice, then in 1867 relocated to Lawrence, Kansas, where she became a celebrated local practitioner. Her 1866 graduation remains one of the most frequently cited milestones in the history of women in medicine and dentistry, and is commemorated by dental organizations and museums to this day.