Faculty and Alumna is Pioneer in Field of Oral Surgery

In celebration of Women's History Month, the From the Dean's Desk profiles Dr. Pam Alberto, a long-time faculty member in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 

Dr. Pam Alberto

Dr. Pam Alberto endured a litany of sexist commentary during dental school in the 1970s and later, when she was applying for a residency.

“They told me it wouldn’t work because I was married and I needed to be home to make dinner for my husband,’’ Dr. Alberto recalled. “They told me how grueling and terrible the emergency room is and that it was no place for a woman.’’

Nevertheless, she persisted, eventually becoming the second woman oral surgeon in New Jersey, after Dr. Gladys Johnson, an RSDM resident who was the first Black woman in the U.S. to become an oral surgeon in 1982.

A career in dentistry wasn’t a life time goal for Dr. Alberto. She originally attended engineering school, where she focused on biomaterials. During a project at the Forsyth Institute, she did research on composites and enjoyed it so much the dentists who worked with her there suggested she give dental school a try. “I liked working with materials and biology,’’ explained Dr. Alberto, who attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, becoming one of only 35 female dental students in a class of 168.

When she gradated in 1980, there was only one woman on the faculty.  After receiving her DMD, she hoped to become an oral surgeon. “I liked the complexity of it, and the fact that it integrates medicine with dentistry,’’ she said.

But Dr. Alberto was daunted by the fact that there were so few women in the field. Her husband encouraged her to apply. She did, but watched as men in lower academic standing were accepted to residency programs that rejected her, she said.

When she applied to RSDM, she had a different experience. “There were no sexist questions. My interview was normal. There was none of this, “Are you married? If you get pregnant you won’t be able to stay in the residency.’’’

Dr. Alberto credits. Dr. Allen Itkin, then chair of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department with giving her a chance, in part because Dr. Gladys Johnson had paved the way for her. She successfully completed her residency, but faced obstacles when she opened a private practice.

“It was difficult for general dentists to send me patients because I was a woman,’’ she said. “They sent me children because they figured kids would be more comfortable with me. So I started with children and built my practice.’’ She believes women have different strengths as oral surgeons. “What we do is tough on patients and I find that women have more compassion and are willing to listen more.”

In 1983, Dr. Alberto joined the faculty at RSDM and in addition to teaching, she leads annual dental missions to a town on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where patients from both nations are treated in a pop-up clinic on the border between the two nations.

The Cheerful Heart Mission, as it’s called, now treats more than 1,000 patients over five days. Dr. Alberto is proud that her daughter, Catherine Wroclawski has followed in her footsteps, and plans to become an oral surgeon, too. After receiving her DMD at Penn, she will soon begin a residency at the Mayo Clinic.

Although there are now more women in the field, it can still be challenging, according to Dr. Alberto. “Sometimes, patients value women doctors more than your colleagues. But when push comes to shove, the most important in terms of success is how many lives you’ve changed.’’