History of Dentistry: Ancient Practices

Indus Valley Civilization

• Dentistry practiced by 7000 BC, using bow drills for tooth treatments.
• Methods were effective and reliable.

Sumerians

• Sumerian text (5000 BC) described "tooth worms" as the cause of tooth decay.
• This belief was also common in ancient India, Egypt, Japan, and China.
• Homer's writings and Guy de Chauliac's works (1300s AD) also supported the "worm theory."

Egyptians

• Hesi-Re (3000 BC), known as "Chief of the Toothers," was an early dentist.
• Egyptian pharaohs suffered from gum disease, confirmed by mummy radiographs.
• Detailed dental work on a 2000 BC mummy showed gold work surrounding teeth, and donor teeth with drilled holes. (wires strung through holes and around neighboring teeth).
• Ebers Papyrus (1700-1550 BC) discussed tooth diseases and remedies.

Chinese

• Chinese practiced dentistry by 2000 BC.
• Developed a silver amalgam paste for fillings in the 2nd century AD. (over 1000 years before Western dentists)

Greeks

• Hippocrates (460-377 BC), "Father of Medicine," discussed teeth's functions and eruption.
• Aristotle (384-322 BC) mentioned teeth in writings and mistakenly stated men had 32 teeth and women 30, leading to the term "wisdom teeth."

Etruscans

• Used gold crowns and fixed bridges for dental prosthetics.

Romans

• Skilled in restoring decayed teeth with gold.
• Used "chew sticks" (small branches) as toothbrushes to scrape off particles.
• Roman medical writer, Cornelius Celsus, wrote about mouth diseases.

Arabs

• Focused on tooth care, rather than extraction/replacement.
• Maintained good oral hygiene, using small wooden sticks ("Siwak") as brushes.

Renaissance

• Leonardo da Vinci studied human anatomy, distinguishing between molars and premolars.

Dental Tools

• Guy de Chauliac (14th century) invented the dental pelican for extractions.
• The pelican was replaced by the dental key and then modern forceps (20th century)

Late 14th Century

• The first modern toothbrush idea emerged in China.
• Introduced to the West in the 16th century.
• Earliest dental textbook ("Artzney Buchlein") was published in 1530.

16th Century

• Pierre Fauchard (father of modern dentistry) developed dentistry as an independent profession from medicine.
• Published "The Surgeon Dentist" in 1723.

17th Century

• 1776, the first recorded post-mortem dental forensic case verifying the death of Dr. Joseph Warren using a dental bridge.

18th Century

• Nicolas Dubois de Chemant received a patent for porcelain teeth (1789).
• John Greenwood built the first dental foot engine (1790)
• Josiah Flagg built the first dental chair (1790).

1801

• Richard C. Skinner published "Treatise on the Human Tooth" in America.

1825

• Samuel Stockton commercialized porcelain teeth, and his company dominated the dental supply market during the 19th century.