First Native woman dentist

First American Indian female dentist inducted into Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame

By Brenda AustinJessica A. Rickert became the nation’s first American Indian woman dentist in 1975. Nominated by her brother Levi Rickert in 2008 to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, she will be inducted during a benefit dinner Oct. 21 in East Lansing, along with nine other women being honored for their contributions to society.

Rickert, a descendant of Chief Whitepigeon, for whom the town of White Pigeon, Mich. is named, has helped establish dental clinics for two Michigan tribes and is the author of a dental column read in American Indian newspapers from coast to coast.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The First Native Dentist.