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History of DentistryDo you think dentists were around when your great grandfather was alive? Do you think people worried about toothaches when Jesus walked the earth? Do you think there were any dentists in Egypt when Moses led his people out and across the Red Sea? If you said yes to all three of these questions, then you are CORRECT!
Dentistry B.C.All cultures of the world blamed toothaches on one of three causes: tooth demons, tooth worms, or humors (unbalanced body fluids). Dentistry was more than likely first practiced by a priest who used prayers to bring about a cure. The earliest explanation of the cause of toothache and prescription for its cure is inscribed on a tablet from Nineveh (That is the same city that Jonah visited after he was swallowed by the great fish. Maybe, that is the same worm that ate Jonah’s shade tree on the hill overlooking Nineveh. Ha!Ha!). This tablet is known as The Legend of the Toothworm. This tablet is apparently a copy of an older record of this legend and prescription. The same belief in the "toothworm" was held by the ancient Chinese.
The first dentist seems to have been Hesi-Re around 3000 B.C. in Egypt. Inside his burial chamber, inscriptions say, “the greatest of those who deal with teeth [chief toother], and of the physicians.” Moses did not lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt until around 1500 B.C; so, by that time Egyptian dentists were already developing simple false teeth by wiring teeth together with a small gold wire around the gum line. The Papyrus Ebers which were probably written around 1500 B.C. reveal medical and dental knowledge dating back to around 3500 B.C. One of its 700 remedies compiled by priests mention the use of frankincense and myrrh. (That is right, the same frankincense and myrrh that you always hear about at Christmas. Maybe the wise men thought baby Jesus had a toothache.) The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1900 B.C.) sheds light on medical history. It shows that as far back as 2500 B.C. the medical profession (including dentistry) was regulated by the central government; the profession had considerable prestige; fees were government regulated and based on the patient's position and rank; and penalties were established for malpractice or unsuccessful treatment. The ultimate penalty was not death but removal of the physician's hand. The code does not contain the details of medical diagnosis of treatment since both the exorcising and herb physicians were priests, and the code dealt with secular matters. However, surgeons were not priests and many operations are inscribed. Apparently most dental treatment was in the hands of physicians and not surgeons.
A chewstick, called a suwak, was probably the earliest toothbrush. The chewstick for cleaning teeth was apparently borrowed from the Chinese and Babylonians. It is first mentioned as a common method of cleaning the teeth by the Romans. It consists of a stick a little smaller in diameter.than a pencil and about 6 inches long. It is made from any one of a number of fibrous woods. One end is chewed to separate the fibers and then the teeth are scrubbed one at a time. This method is still used in many parts of Africa and many Islamic countries.
Dentistry at the time of JesusAs we get closer to the years when Jesus walked the earth, we see that the Romans began to use gold crowns on teeth. In Greece, Aristotle, the student of Plato, was the first to make a study of the comparative anatomy of teeth and mentioned the extraction (pulling) of teeth with forceps. Around 15 A.D., when Jesus would have been a teenager, a famous Roman physician Archigenes made a profound statement that some of the causes of the toothache were from inside the tooth, pulpitis. He made a special drill to get to the inside of the tooth( the nerve and blood vessels) and one of his recommendations was to put a roasted earthworms and spikenard (a medicinal plant) ointment mixed with crushed eggs of spiders into the hole that he had made. So, the next time you see your dentist, give him/her a big hug and thank them that they do not make you put earthworms and spider eggs in your tooth. Around 30 A.D., when Jesus was just starting his ministry, Celsus a great Roman physician was the first to put a filling (of lead) in to the cavities of teeth. However, he was not doing this to save them but to keep them from breaking when he got ready to pull them. I wonder if any of Jesus’ disciples had fillings placed in their teeth. In 249 A.D. St. Apollonia, the patron saint of dentistry, had her teeth extracted (pulled) in Alexandria. Her saint day is commemorated on February 9th.
Dentistry in the Middle AgesDuring the Early Middle Ages in Europe medicine, surgery, and dentistry, were generally practiced by monks who were the most educated people of the period. But between 1130-1163 A.D. aseries of Papal edicts prohibit monks from performing any type of surgery, bloodletting or tooth extraction. Barbers often assisted monks in their surgical ministry because they visited monasteries to shave the heads of monks and the tools of the barber trade—sharp knives and razors—were useful for surgery. After the edicts, barbers assume the monks’ surgical duties: bloodletting, lancing abscesses, extracting teeth, etc. During the Middle Ages, if you did not go to a barber surgeon, you might see a juggler drawing a crowd in the marketplace to be followed by a “tooth-drawer” who would pull the teeth of people in the crowd that made their way to the stage. The barbaric practices of the Middle Ages began to come to a close with the publication of The Surgeon Dentist (Le Chirurgien Dentiste) by Pierre Fauchard in France. Fauchard was very clear in every category with a manner that was clear and even corresponded with many present day conditions. He covered subjects like surgery, preventive, prosthetic dental medicine, orthodontics, and instructions with regard to instruments. Fauchard is referred to as the “Father of Scientific Dentistry” or the “Father of Modern Dentistry.” However, his one throwback to dentistry that was more in line with the Middle Ages was his antiseptic prescription to rinse the mouth mornings and evenings with a few spoonfuls of one’s own fresh urine. This was nonetheless an improvement, I guess, from the Spaniards advice to rinse with old, stale urine.
Dentistry in AmericaJumping over to our continent, John Baker was the first dentist to practice in America after he arrived from England in 1760. Later in 1779, Isaac Greenwood was the first native-born American dentist. You may be familiar with some of the work of John Greenwood, Isaac’s son. John Greenwood was one of George Washington’s, our first President and leader of the colonial army, most regular dentists. John was responsible for designing Mr. Washington’s famous dentures, which despite many legends were not wood but were carved from the tusk of a hippopotamus. George Washington’s dentures made from the tusk of a hippopotamus by Dr. John Greenwood. John also invented the first known dental foot engine by modifying the foot pedal from his mother’s spinning wheel to rotate the drill. One of America’s most famous dentist might have shouted the words, “Decay is coming, decay is coming,” to some of his patients before he took his midnight ride to shout, “The British are coming, the British are coming.” That is right, the American hero Paul Revere, was a dentist that trained under America’s first dentist, John Baker, in Boston. Paul Revere was also the first forensic dentist used by C.S.I., Crime Scene Investigators, when he identified the body of General Joseph Warren. General Warren who was one of the first to give his life in the American Revolution at Bunker Hill had received a couple of false teeth held in place by a silver wire from Paul Revere right before the war began. In an edition of the New England Chronicle on April 25, 1776, one can see that Paul Revere was able to make the positive identification of the general’s body by the two artificial teeth.
Modern DentistryThe world’s first dental college was opened in 1840 at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. This began to formally educate dentists who would have the title of DDS, Doctor of Dental Surgery, and made the United States the world leader in dentistry. With this new more formal dentistry and with the lack of government oversight of the profession, many dentists fought for an organization to sanction and regulate their members. In 1859, a group of 26 dentists met at Niagara Falls to form the ADA(American Dental Association). In 1867, the Harvard University Dental Schoolwas founded as the first university-affiliated dental institution. The school calls its degree the Dentariae Medicinae Doctorae (DMD), creating a continuing semantic controversy (DDS vs. DMD). During the Civil War, the southern dentists seceded from the ADA and formed the SDA(Southern Dental Association) in Atlanta in 1869. However, in 1897 the SDA rejoined the ADA to form the NDA(National Dental Association). It was not until 1922 that the NDA restored its original name of American Dental Association. In 1908, Greene Vardiman Black, the leading reformer and educator of American dentistry, published his monumental two-volume treatise Operative Dentistry, which remains the essential clinical dental text for fifty years. Black later developed techniques for filling teeth, standardized operative procedures and instrumentation, developed an improved amalgam, and pioneered the use of visual aids for teaching dentistry. And in 2003 and 2004 A.D., Dr. Juggles is still learning about some of G.V. Black’s operative procedures at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry as he works toward his D.M.D. degree. In 2004 A.D., Dr. Juggles learned enough to travel to Trinidad, West Indies, and Piedras Negras, Mexico, to perform dental missions.
Advances in dentistry are taking it farther and farther everyday.
History of ToothbrushThe first toothbrush was probably more like the wooden chewsticks that were mentioned earlier. Natural bristle brushes were invented by the ancient Chinese who made toothbrushes with bristles from the necks of cold climate pigs. French dentists were the first Europeans to promote the use of toothbrushes in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Many American Companies began to mass-produce toothbrushes after 1885. But most Americans did not brush their teeth until Army soldiers brought their enforced habits of tooth brushing back home after World War II. Around this time, a Mississippi physician named Charles Cassidy Bass began to propose that people did not just lose their teeth because they were getting old. He stressed that if one worked hard to keep the area of the tooth at and below the gum clean and free of bacteria, even the elderly could keep their teeth. One way that he suggested was by placing one’s toothbrush partly on the tooth and partly on the gum with the toothbrush angled toward the gums. As one vibrated the toothbrush back and forth, the tips of the bristles slid below the gums to clean off plaque bacteria that had always been missed. He chastised the academic, public health and military dentists for their lack of knowledge in area of preventive dentistry. Dr. Bass felt that his "Right Kind" method of oral hygiene was not well received by the dental profession. Originally, Dr. Bass sold the “Right Kind” toothbrush and floss and only provided them for dental professionals who went through his specific training for brushing. This Bass Technique with a few changes is still taught by many dentists and dental schools today as the Modified Bass Technique of Toothbrushing.
History of ToothpasteToothpaste was used as long ago as 500 BC in both China and India; however, modern toothpastes were developed in the 1800s. In 1824, a dentist named Peabody was the first person to add soap to toothpaste. John Harris first added chalk as an ingredient to toothpaste in the 1850s. In 1873, Colgate mass-produced the first toothpaste in a jar. In 1892, Dr. Washington Sheffield of Connecticut manufactured toothpaste into a collapsible tube. Sheffield's toothpaste was called Dr. Sheffield's Creme Dentifrice. In 1896, Colgate Dental Cream was packaged in collapsible tubes imitating Sheffield. Advancements in synthetic detergents made after WW II allowed for the replacement of the soap used in toothpaste with emulsifying agents such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and Sodium Ricinoleate. A few years later, Colgate started to add fluoride to toothpaste.
History of Dental Floss Dental floss is an ancient invention. Researchers have found dental floss and toothpick grooves in the teeth of prehistoric humans. Levi Spear Parmly (1790-1859), a New Orleans dentist is credited as being the inventor of modern dental floss (or maybe the term re-inventor would be more accurate). Parmly promoted teeth flossing with a piece of silk thread in 1815. Dr. Charles C. Bass, a Mississippi physician who was mentioned above for developing a method of toothbrushing, developed nylon floss as a replacement for silk floss during WW II. Dr. Bass was also responsible for making teeth flossing an important part of dental hygiene again proving that if plaque bacteria were cleaned from around the tooth at and below the gumline, tooth loss did not have to be a natural part of growing old.
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This concept of worms causing dental decay was accepted without question for centuries in Western Civilization. It was not successfully attacked until 1728 by Pierre Fauchard, the father of modern dentistry.
