The field of dental hygiene can be attributed to the foresight of one man: Alfred Civilion Fones. In the early 1900s, when Fones was a practicing dentist in Bridgeport, Conn., oral disease prevention was not popular. But Fones believed that an “auxiliary” person could be used in his practice to prevent oral disease. His first student was his cousin, Irene Newman. Fones then set out to create the first school of dental hygiene, the Fones Clinic, which opened in Bridgeport on this date in 1913. More than 30 women signed up for the program and heard lectures by local and university dentists. Fones closed the school some time after to travel and lecture. In 1949, 11 years after his death, the Junior College of Connecticut, where Fones had been a trustee, opened the Fones School of Dental Hygiene, now part of the University of Bridgeport.

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