The Caruth School of Dental Hygiene — one of about 20 dental hygiene schools in the nation when it was founded — admitted its first class of 32 students in September 1955. A $30,000 gift from W.W. Caruth Jr., founder of the Caruth Foundation, funded equipment. The first class completed the two-year certificate program in 1957. At the time, dental hygiene as an occupation was new to Texas, one of the last states to pass legislation authorizing the practice.

In 1964, the school began giving students the option of studying for a two-year certificate or a four-year bachelor of science in dental hygiene degree. The degree was initiated as a result of a request by the American Dental Association, which was concerned about a shortage of dental hygiene teachers. Caruth was the first school in Texas to respond and awarded its first Bachelor of Science degrees in 1966.

A year after the four-year program was initiated, the Caruth School of Dental Hygiene received another gift from the Caruth Foundation. This $23,000 grant was used to expand the school’s clinical facilities.

In 1996, a shortage of dental hygiene educators prompted the dental hygiene school to develop a master’s in dental hygiene degree, one of two offered in the Western United States at the time. BCD trustees approved the advanced studies program in 1996, and the first graduate received the master’s degree in 1999. Since then, six students have completed the two-year program.