Ancient Dental Practices in India, China, and Pre-Columbian America PDF

Ancient cultures India, China and Precolumbian America India India → The Vedas (wisdom), four holy books, are the pillars of Indian science. → Ayurveda, or "science of life" is a system of medicine whose foundation is to believe that the seven hundred vessels of the body carry blood and three ba...

Ancient cultures India, China and Precolumbian America India India → The Vedas (wisdom), four holy books, are the pillars of Indian science. → Ayurveda, or "science of life" is a system of medicine whose foundation is to believe that the seven hundred vessels of the body carry blood and three basic principles Pitta (bile), Kapha (phlegm) and Vata (wind). Disease = alteration of these principles. Initially, surgery was the most important branch of medicine. Later its use was limited due to Buddhist prohibitions. Surgical operations were performed in accordance with an elaborate system of religious rituals. India Dentistry → Practiced by surgeons → ‘Bad blood’ as cause of oral pathologies: bloodletting with leeches → Fleshy tumors on the palate or wisdom tooth are described for which excision, scarification or cauterization with cautery or hot fluids is recommended → Bone fractures were treated with complicated bandages and the reduction of the dislocated jaw was described India Dentistry Tooth decay → Pathology more frequent in the upper classes. →Believed to be related to a worm inhabiting the inside of the teeth (toothworm theory). As a treatment for pain: potions, scarification, enemas, gargles, even measures aimed at killing the toothworm with hot wax. Extraction would be the last option with a special forceps (animal head). The extraction of strongly rooted molars was discouraged. For those that were loose, an instrument similar to an elevator with a flat tip and in the shape of an arrow was used. Surgical instruments as described by Sushruta India Dentistry Dentition → They associated fever, diarrea and cough with a difficult teeth eruption. Applications of a paste made up by honey and ground pepper, or partridge meat with honey. Oral higiene →Oral cavity was witnessed as the entrance to the body (sacred), so hygiene was encouraged. → Tartar removal using an instrument with a flat diamond-shaped tip. → Miswak-Siwak. A toothbrush made by a tree root. → Scratching of tongue and herbal mouthwashes. MISWAK- SIWAK. Natural plant-toothbrush https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcpaoGR1D2I China China Dentistry → Focus on toothache. They described many varities of this malady. Some of the remedies for toothache were based in arsenic. → Description of abscesses and fistulae of the gums. Rubbing of medical powder. → Cleft lip surgery was documented around 255-206 BCE. → Toowthworm as the cause of tooth decay. → Toothbrush as preventive care. The contemporary toothbrush (bristles perpendicular to the handle) is thought to be invented in China around 1490. Precolumbian America Precolumbian Cultures Christopher Columbus (1492) Precolumbian Cultures Groups of people from Asia arrived in America 15,000 years ago thanks to the Bering Land Bridge. → To the East, into the woodlands of North America. → To the South, into Mesoamerica and South America. Development of civilizations, similarities in culture. Source: National Geographic. https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/photos/000/315/31519.jpg Precolumbian Cultures AZTECS: central Mexico. MAYAS: Yucatán Peninsula + Guatemala + Honduras. INCAS: Andes mountains, Peru. MAYAS - The nation´s history began 2,500 B.C.E. - Its culture reached the Golden period from 300 C.E. – 900 C.E. After that, it went into a slow but steady decline (Spanish conquest). - Well developed mathematics knowledge. - Tools of flint and wood weapons edged with sharpened obsidian. - Smelters and forgers (gold, silver, bronce). - Advanced architecture: great pyramids, surmounted by magnificent temples, public buildings and palaces. MAYAS - Written language: consigned to flames (considered pagan for Christians conquerors). - Collection of parchments with hieroglyfic writings chronicling their history and traditions. - Spanish conquerors (XVth - XVIth ) destroyed culture and roots. MAYAS Dentistry Skills in working on the teeth strictly for ritual or religious purposes, even personal adornment. No true restorative or corrective dentistry for the improvement of health or healing. MAYAS Dentistry TOP PRACTICES Inlays Drills/Carvings Implants MAYAS Dentistry Inlays Carved inlays in carefully prepared cavities in the upper and lower anterior teeth, and occasionally in the bicuspid teeth. Variety of minerals: jadeite, iron pyrites, hematite, turquoise, quartz, serpentine and cinnabar. MAYAS Dentistry Inlays The stone inlay fits the cavity so exactly: in situ for a thousand years. Supplement frictional retention, the cavity and the inlay was sealed with cements. MAYAS Dentistry Drills/Carvings Filed their teeth with a tribal or religious meaning. Each filing design had a particular tribal or religious significance. The incisal edges of some teeth were filed with a single cut, some had the distal portions of the edges removed. More tan 50 different types. Diego Landa in his work “An account of the things of Yucatan” (1566) stated about the Mayans: “They had the habit of sawing off their teeth, leaving them as saw teeth, and this was a gallantry. This was made by some old women, who used certain stones and wáter for such purpose” MAYAS Dentistry Drills/Carvings Filed their teeth with a tribal or religious meaning. Each filing design had a particular tribal or religious significance. The incisal edges of some teeth were filed with a single cut, some had the distal portions of the edges removed. More tan 50 different types. Diego Landa in his work “An account of the things of Yucatan” (1566) stated about the Mayans: “They had the habit of sawing off their teeth, leaving them as saw teeth, and this was a gallantry. This was made by some old women, who used certain stones and wáter for such purpose” MAYAS Dentistry Implants Implantation of alloplastic material in living ones. A mandible fragment (600 C.E., Honduras). Three tooth-shaped pieces of shell placed in the sockets of three missing lower incisor teeth. Earliest endosseous alloplastic implants yet discovered. Postmortem inserts. Fragment of skull in Ecuador, with two incisors inserted in the dental alveoli breaking the alveolar process AZTECS Important source of our knowledge about early dental practices among the Aztecs: Spanish monk Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and his book “General history of the Things of New Spain”. AZTECS Dentistry He studied diseases of the mouth and how they were treated with herbs. He translated the names of the teeth into Nahuatl. He spoke of the formation of calculus and cavities. He left a record of the native belief that only those born in full moon they may have a cleft lip. I was suppossed to cause caries but I was not! AZTECS Dentistry CODEX MAGLIABECHIANO (Antonio Magliabechi) Patients explaining their diseases to the physician (tepatl) and the sorcerer (ticitl), who through the use of corn kernels must discern whether the disease was caused by a curse, sins or violation of Aztec taboos. It refers to extractions as the last step in the case of failure of dental pain relief. Sutured face and lip wounds with strands of hair. The cavities of the teeth are filled with a powder made of snail shells, sea salt and the Tlalcacaoalt herb. INCAS INCAS Great knowledge development. They dominated the Peruvian highlands. They were conquered by Francisco Pizarro in 1553 and much of their culture was destroyed. The Inca Garcilaso, collected the treatment related to dental and oral pathologies. INCAS Treatment of disease was linked to their religious beliefs. Magic was intermingled with rational approaches in their therapeutic attempts. Excision of carious material from a tooth with a burning stick. Balsam of Peru, a resin from the tree Myroxylon pereirae, was used to treat gingival diseases. In severe cases, cautery was resorted too. Coca bush leaves were chewed during the operation to provide relief from pain. The teeth to be extracted first are loosened by applying caustic resin around and under the gum and then pulled off. They did not decorate their teeth.