Dr. Gayle Glenn, Class of 1984

2020 Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award recipient, AAWD's highest award
October 16th, 2020

Dr. Gayle GlennDr. Gayle Glenn ’84, clinical assistant professor and graduate orthodontic clinical director, has been named the 2020 Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award recipient by the American Association of Women Dentists.

The AAWD’s highest award recognizes trailblazing women who have been in the dental profession for 20-plus years and an AAWD member for at least a decade. Glenn will be honored at the annual AAWD meeting in April 2021. Lucy Hobbs was the first licensed female dentist in the U.S.

“Having joined the dental profession when only 3% of U.S. dentists were women, I am grateful for organizations like AAWD that support diversity in dentistry,” Glenn says. “I am delighted that half of our dental students are currently women, and I look forward to the impact that greater diversity will make in our profession.”

Glenn has been involved with the AAWD since joining the student chapter of the Texas Association of Women Dentists while a student at the University of Texas Dental School at San Antonio. In 1984, she completed her master’s degree and certificate in orthodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry, which is now Texas A&M College of Dentistry. She was the fourth female resident in the college’s graduate orthodontics program.

In 2013, Glenn was elected the first female president of the American Association of Orthodontists. She received the Martin Dewey Memorial Award from the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists (SWSO) in 2015 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dallas County Dental Society in 2018. Glenn served as president of both the SWSO and the Texas Association of Orthodontists. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and received the Trailblazer Award for the Texas Orthodontic Study Club in 2019. She also practices orthodontics part time in north Dallas.

— Kathleen Green Pothier