newman's training seemed to help the children, so fones launched a program to make preventive dental treatment available to schoolchildren in bridgeport. in 1913 he established a school for dental hygienists, convincing the bridgeport board of education to help fund the program. although he envisioned dental hygienists in doctors' offices, his primary goal was to have them work in schools. fones raised a total of $46,000 to open the school, which had a first class of 34 women, many of them "mature" women who were school teachers, nurses or doctors' wives.