'Grandmother of dental hygiene' receives honor from Boston council

Dec. 12--Her expertise has taken her across the globe, but the woman known as the "grandmother of dental hygiene" has her roots in Tyngsboro.

Growing up in the big white house overlooking the center of town, Dr. Esther M. Wilkins never believed she would write a book that would one day be required reading for dental-hygiene students everywhere.

To commemorate Wilkins' 90th birthday and her contributions to her field, the Boston City Council declared Dec. 9 "Esther M. Wilkins Day" in the city.

Dr. Timothy Hempton, who shares an office with Wilkins at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, marvels at the imprint she has left on her field.

"In the world of dental hygiene, I would say she is the most well known, most respected and most loved person," said Hempton, assistant director of periodontology at Tufts. "From Boston to Seattle, from Chicago to Miami, dental professionals everywhere are inspired by her."

Growing up in Tyngsboro, Wilkins attended the Winslow School and then Lowell High School. She later went to Simmons College, taking the train into Boston every day. Her mother was Tyngsboro's switchboard operator at the time. The switchboard was located inside their house, and at night Wilkins would man it while her mother made dinner.

"It was in the front window that overlooked the center of town," Wilkins recalled yesterday in a telephone interview from her Boston home. "There used to be a police car parked down there. If someone wanted to know if he was there, they'd call the switchboard. You know, small-town stuff."

Wilkins soon moved on to big-city stuff.

After graduating from Simmons in 1938, she enrolled in Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists in Boston. Wilkins worked as a dental hygienist for several years in Manchester, Mass., before deciding to become a dentist.

"You get ambitious," said Wilkins. "You like what you're doing, but you want to be in charge."

After receiving her doctor of medical dentistry degree from Tufts, Wilkins took a position teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle. That's where she wrote Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist, published in 1959. The book began as loose leaf handouts Wilkins passed out to her students in lectures. It's now in its ninth edition and translated into almost every language.

"It was the most thorough book at the time, and no one has been able to do better since," said George Humphrey, a vice president at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, where the dental-hygiene clinic bears Wilkins' name. "It's the primary textbook that every school uses in the country."

The book's success has made Wilkins one of the most sought after speakers on dental-hygiene issues in the world. She has spoken at universities and conventions in every state, as well as Japan, Australia, Italy and Israel.

To this day, Wilkins still teaches one day each week at Tufts. Terrence J. Griffin, chairman of Tufts' department of periodontology, said Wilkins' name is recognized worldwide.

"No matter where I travel, when people hear I'm from Tufts, they ask about her," said Wilkins. "Even today, she has more energy in her little finger than you or I have together in our whole bodies."

Although Wilkins calls Boston home now, she still travels to Tyngsboro a few times each year. On Memorial Day she'll visit the Tyngsboro Cemetery, where her husband is buried. She also stops by to see "the girls", her cousins Janet and Louise Lorman, and Christina Bell, who still live in town.

"We're all 80 years old, but we still call each other girls," said Wilkins.

Chris Camire's e-mail address is ccamire@lowellsun.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.

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