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“Early house and store, possibly on Clay Street; dentist on second story” c. 1875. Photographer unknown (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection). The main signage at the second floor reads from right to left: 脱牙線牙專醫牙痛 (lit. “flossing dentist toothache specialist”; canto: “seen ngah chuen yi ngah tuhng”; pinyin: “tuō yá xiàn yá zhuān yī yátòng”). The sign seen above the railing at right indicates that, the dentist apparently shared the building with a photography studio 映相樓 (lit. mirror image building; canto: “ying sun lauh”), but the photographer’s name is undiscernible in the image.

A name is barely discernible above the main dental office sign. According to historian and author Roland Hui, the Chinese name 鄺慈敬 (Kwong Tse King....) [canto: “Kwong Tee Ging”] is the same name used by one the 1902 SF Dental College graduates, Charlie Fong. “Since 鄺 is pronounced "Fong" in Hoisanwa,” Hui asserts, “the dentist in the picture may well be Charlie Fong aka Fong Tse King.” Hui notes that the name “Charley Fong” appears in the 1894 Langley directory with an office address of 813-1/2 Sacramento Street. Given the steep angle of incline depicted in the photo, and the streetcar tracks in the foreground, a location on Sacramento Street represents another possible site for the photo.

The Unsung: Chinatown’s Trailblazing Dentists

The histories and storytellers of old San Francisco Chinatown often overlook the dentists who served the pioneer community. Chinese practitioners of dentistry must have inevitably followed the Gold Rush migrants from southern China to California. However, the historical record about Chinatown’s earliest dentists remains scant.

Dentistry had only recently separated itself as a medical specialization in the US in the latter part of the 19th century. On May 28, 1881, the medical faculty formally proposed the creation of an affiliated Dental Department to the UC Regents, using the affiliation of the medical and pharmacy departments as precedent. Part of their appeal included their promise of free lecture and clinic space for dental students at the Toland Medical College building.

The Pioneers

Coincidentally, the Langley directory of 1882 printed the first English language listing for a “Mar Yuet Wo, dentist, 1002 Dupont” in Chinatown. The address had been formerly occupied by the barber of the Globe Hotel, Mee Nguen, and since 1881 had also served as the address of the Tai Yuen Co. grocery store. Unfortunately, the historical record goes silent about Mar and any other dentists until 1894 and 1895 when the Langley directory lists dentists Charley Fong at 813-1/2 Sacramento Street and Carl M. Lee at 754 Washington Street.

By 1902, Fong, Lee, and two other Chinese had availed themselves of the western training provided by the San Francisco Dental College and obtained degrees of Doctor of Dental Surgery by May 20, 1902.

Announcement in the Pacific Dental Gazette listing the graduates of the San Francisco Dental College in its third commencement exercises of May 2, 1902.

Leung Ting Mai

By the time of his graduation as a western-trained dental surgeon, Leung Ting Mai had already been practicing dentistry under the name of “J.B. Landon.” Leung had been born in Hao-Shan, Kwangtung, in 1860. Chinese sources report that he arrived in the US in December 1876. After marrying in 1885, Leung began his studies in dental surgery for the next several years. The photographic record, however, suggests that Leung may have been providing dental services as Dentist Leung Ting 梁廷美牙醫 (canto: “Leung Tin Mei Nga Yih”) prior to his licensure in 1902.

A view of the northwestern corner of the intersection of Washington and Dupont Streets, no date, c. pre-1904. Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Bancroft Library). This corner building had two addresses on 900 Dupont and an entrance at 800 Washington, the doorway to which is seen at the left of the frame. Signage for dentist Leung Ting Mai can be seen on the corner of the building at the upper floor.

Whether by chance or calculation, the entrance to Leung’s dental office at 800 Washington was placed strategically to the left of a wall on which community news was posted, including tong death notices, what historian Phil Choy would later denote as a “murder wall.” As the next series of photos shows, the men of Chinatown’s bachelor society frequently gathered on the sidewalk outside of Leung’s dental offices.

The entrance to 800 Washington Street and dentist Leung Ting Mei’s offices, c. pre-1904. Photographer unknown (from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library). The second photos represents one of several close-ups in the SFPL collection.

In addition to the photos taken by the unknown photographer whose work reposes with the San Francisco Public Library, the signage of dentist Leung Ting Mei, a.k.a. “J.B Landon” would be preserved for future generations as other photographers of old Chinatown photographed men gathered in front of the poster-wall at the northeastern corner of Washington and Dupont Streets. Whether by accident or design, Leung’s dental office signage would provide the most photographed dentist’s signage of old Chinatown.

“The Billboard in Chinatown” c. 1895-1904. Photograph by Grahame H. Hardy (from the collection of the California State Library). A group of Chinese men read wall posters and news in Chinatown outside the entrance of 800 Washington Street. The small awning for “J.B. Landon Dentist” appears in the upper left-hand corner of the frame.

By the turn of the century, and certainly by 1902, Leung had changed his purely Chinese signage and settled on conducting his dental practice under the name of “J.B. Landon” for reasons that are now lost to memory. If Leung Ting Mar intended the ploy to avoid a marketing stigma of a Chinese name and gain a listing in the main body of the Langley business directory, it appears to have worked. Both the 1904 and 1905 Langley directories list “Landon, James B, dentist, 904 Washington” during a time when racial prejudice against the Chinese was running high and the Langley directory had omitted its separate section of Chinatown business listings.

Another photo of men reading wall postings below the dental office signage for dentist Leung Ting Mar, doing business as “J.B. Landon, Dentist” c. 1904-1905. Photographer unknown.

Group of men reading news and wall notices outside the office of J.B. Landon Dentist, c. 1904-1905. Photographer unknown (from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library).

The photos in the Granger and San Francisco Public Library collections represent perhaps the best images of the complete dental office signage for dentist Leung Ting Mar, practicing dentistry under the name of “J.B. Landon, Dentist.”

As with every other business in Chinatown, the building in which Leung practiced dentistry was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. According to Chinese sources, Leung returned to China in August, 1906 where he opened a dental practice that year in the Mission Building located on the Bund in Guangzhou. His years of dental practice in San Francisco’s Chinatown, however, would be immortalized in its photographic record and its derivative colorized print and postcard art.

Colorized postcard of a lone man reading wall notices outside the dental office of Leung Ting Mai at 800 Washington Street. Photographer unknown (from the collection of the California Historical Society).

A Chinese American Original and a First: Faith Sai So Leong

Formal portrait of Faith Sai So Leong (from the collection of her sons Edwin and Eric Owyang).

While the first wave of western-trained dentists practiced in Chinatown, San Francisco dental colleges had continued to admit more Chinese students. In 1904, Faith Sai So Leong (蔡世良; canto: “Cheuih Sai Leung”) became the first woman to graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry).

Born in China, she came to San Francisco in 1894 at the age of 13. She was adopted as “Sai So Yeong.” by Mrs. E J Nickerson, an English teacher, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Nickerson would help Sai So learn English and would arrange for Sai So to be baptized with the Christian name “Faith” at Grace Church.

Faith Sai So Leong with her adoptive mother, Mrs. E.J. Nickerson, in San Francisco, c. 1894. Photographer unknown (from the collection of Edwin Owyang, MD).

Having been encouraged to pursue dentistry by a cousin who was also a dentist, Faith entered dental school and graduated when she was 24 years old. She was awarded the Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1905 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, San Francisco, May 18, 1905 at the Alhambra Theater, San Francisco.

The 1904 graduation photo of Faith Sai So Leong (a.k.a. Sai So Yeong).

However, the issuance of her license was delayed due to an investigation and trial related to misconduct by members of the State Board of Dental Examiners. In August 1905, Faith Sai So Leong was the only woman out of a class 40 students to receive a dental license.

The San Francisco Call, August 12, 1905, p. 5. In column five, the paper reports without fanfare that “Miss Faith Sai So Leong, San Francisco,” the first Chinese woman to receive a dentist license in the US, was among the group of new dental licensees for that year.

Faith Leong initially established her dental practice at 847 Dupont Street in San Francisco’s Chinatown, primarily serving the Chinese. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed her office and laboratory, she relocated to Oakland.

Dr. Faith Sai So Leong posing with a patient in the examination chair. Photographer unknown (from the collection of descendants Edwin and Eric Owyang).

Historian Thomas W. Chinn wrote in his book Bridging the Pacific about her resumption of dental practice in Oakland as follows:

“It took a while, but on July 23, 1906, she found quarters at 8th and Harrison streets in Oakland, where she reestablished herself. In a short time or practice was flourishing again. Her greatest loss from the fire, she considered, was a loss of her college diploma, and though a duplicate was soon secured, it was not quite the same. . . .

The Affidavit signed by Faith Sai So Leong on May 8, 1907, applying for a duplicate diploma to replace the original one destroyed in the 1906 fire (from the collection of the University of the Pacific).

A feature story about “The Only Chinese Woman Dentist” Faith Sai So Leong, in the San Francisco Sunday Call of September 15, 1907.

“Now there was a steady stream of patients to and from her office: men, women, and children, wealthy merchants and community leaders – all to be examined and taken care of by ‘a slight slender girl enveloped in a long white apron, definitely manipulating the bright instruments and tinkering among her laboratory paraphernalia while one of her countrymen occupies our big dentist chair,’ as one visitor described her.”

The Chinese Dentist Club, San Francisco, c. 1909. (Photo courtesy of Edwin Owyang, MD) Dr. Faith Leong Owyang served as the club’s treasurer. Charley Fong, whose Chinese name (鄺慈敬) appears 4th from the right of the photo, appears to use the same Chinese name which can be seen above the main dentist’s sign in the first photo shown in this article.

In 1909, Leong married Nam Owyang, the son of the secretary to the Chinese Consul to San Francisco. The two had met during her vacation in Hong Kong. She returned to San Francisco on August 5, 1910. By the following month, Faith Leong Owyang, DDS, re-opened her practice in Chinatown at 1108 Stockton Street. She also joined the Chinese Methodist Episcopal Church.

She would later bring her aging former guardian, Mrs. Nickerson, to live with her family. She gave birth to two sons, Eric and Edwin. She would also bring her aging former guardian, Mrs. Nickerson, to live with her family.

The life of this trailblazer among Chinese American women was tragically cut short at age 47 when a runaway vehicle on Grant Avenue struck her as she helped her son avoid the impact. She was taken to Harbor Emergency hospital suffering from multiple fractures and internal injuries. She passed away in San Francisco on May 10, 1929.

Dr. Faith Sai So Leong posing in formal Chinese garb. Photographer unknown (from the collection of descendants Edwin and Eric Owyang).

She is remembered today as the world’s first modern-trained Chinese woman dentist in the world.

Charles Goodall Lee

If Charles Goodall Lee (1881 – 1973) had done nothing more than pursue his studies to become the first licensed Chinese American dentist in California, he would be remembered today. Lee, however, also exemplified the small second generation of Chinese Americans committed to perfecting their civil rights in the US

An 1891 photo of the family of the future dentist, Charles G. Lee (back row, center), the first Chinese American licensed to practice dentistry in California. According to journalist William Wong, Lee’s son, Lester, would also become a dentist. (Photo courtesy of Mary Mar)

Lee was born in 1881 on the eve of the Exclusion Act in San Francisco, California, to Lee Tong Hay, a lay leader helping to organize the Chinese Methodist Church with Otis Gibson's missions that would become the Chinese Community United Methodist Church. After graduating from the School of Dentistry at University of the Pacific, Lee established his dental practice in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

“Chinatown - Dupont Street at Clay Street, April 9, 1900.″ Photograph by D. H. Wulzen from the D. H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. The balconies of the Woey Sin Low restaurant at 808 Dupont appears to the left of the frame in the above photograph. The signage for the dental office of “Charles S. Lee” [sic] can be seen at street level (806 Dupont) and the corner of the building.

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lee relocated to first to San Jose, California, and later settled in Oakland, becoming one of Oakland Chinatown's first dentists. He continued his dental practice until his retirement in 1940, but, along the way, actively participated in civic affairs.

He co-founded Oakland's Chinese American Citizens Alliance in 1912 and co-financed the construction of CACA’s lodge in Oakland. Lee reportedly contributed the largest payment for the purchasing of the building as well as the repair fees. As a member of the Oakland Lodge, Lee fought for the civil rights, equal economic and political opportunities, and the general welfare of Chinese Americans.

He was married to a fellow civic activist, Clara Elizabeth Chan. who was the first Chinese American woman to register to vote in the United States.

A smiling dentist Charles Goodall Lee (center) accompanied his wife Clara Elizabeth Chan Lee (second from right) and teacher Emma Tom Leung (left) of OakIand to the Alameda County Court House on November 8, 1911. According to the Oakland Tribune, the women became “the first ethnic Chinese women in history to become eligible to vote when they registered. Assistant County Clerk W.B. Reith supervised their application while Tom Leung and Charles G. Lee looked on.

Lee was also a lay leader of the Chinese Community Methodist Church of Oakland, a member of the Oakland Chinese Center, and a member of the Lee Family Benevolent Association.

Next generation activists

The life of Thomas Wai Sun Wu, exemplified the continuance by the next generation of the trail blazed by the pioneer dental practitioners.

Born in 1915 in San Francisco, Wu taught himself to play the piano when his sisters started lessons. His musical abilities progressed to the point where he played at the True Sunshine Episcopal Church, founded by his father, the Rev. Daniel Wu.

“In the 1930s, he helped organize a dance orchestra, the Chinatown Knights, and was a rehearsal pianist for orchestras visiting San Francisco,” reporter Vanessa Hua wrote. “At the time, he was not allowed to perform in public because he was Chinese, and when he tried to join the San Francisco musicians union, he was rejected, he told his daughter, Laurene Wu McClain. Dr. Wu was able to get into the Sacramento union and play professionally.”

Dentist and civic leader Thomas W.S. Wu, DDS.

In 1939, Wu received his degree from UCSF Dental School and started his dental practice in Chinatown. He also found the time for civic, professional and religious organizations. Wu’s political advocacy would lead to San Francisco mayors appointing him to serve on the San Francisco Library Commission, Board of Permit Appeals, and the Art Commission. He also co- founded the Chinese Historical Society of America and served as president of the Eng Family Association. Later in life, he also on the board of On Lok Senior Health Services, the Chinatown YMCA and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance.

The largely unsung history of Chinatown’s first dentists illustrates the powerful effect exerted by the early and critical opening by San Francisco’s early dental schools to Chinese American students, those students rise to prominence as community professionals and leaders, and their activism informed by their faith.

Their day may begin when your pain starts, but the dentists of Chinatown have played their part in the progress of Chinese America toward the better future.

[updated 2023-2-22]

#Dentists of old Chinatown #Leung Ting Mei #Leung Ting Mar #J.B. Landon Dentist #Carl M. Lee #Charley Fong #Faith Sai So Leong #Sai So Yeong #E.J. Nickerson #Chinese Methodist Episcopal Church #Charles Goodall Lee #Clara Elizabeth Chan Lee #Thomas Wai Sun Wu DDS

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