Like many fields of health care and medicine, dentistry has been practiced for centuries. Recent advances in science and technology have revolutionized dental care in the past half-century, but many of the most basic elements have been practiced for centuries, if not millennia. These are some of our favorite fascinating facts about dental health and care before the modern era.
Do you need a new Marlow/Central dentist? Visit Dr. Matthew Bridges at Chisholm Trail Smile Center and we’ll show you how much fun oral care can be! Contact our Duncan OK dental office at 580-255-4880 for an appointment.
Ancient Dental Implants
Modern dental implants started being used only a couple of decades ago, but there is archeological evidence that ancient peoples attempted to replace lost teeth the same way. A 4000-year-old skull from China shows a bamboo peg was used to replace a lost tooth and the Ancient Mayans hammered pieces of shell into their jaws. A recently discovered 2300-year-old Iron Age woman’s skull had a metal screw in her jaw that looked surprisingly similar to modern implant posts.
How Old Are Your Fillings?
While most of us prefer tooth-colored fillings today, metal amalgam fillings are also a suitable option. Amazingly, the first metal fillings were invented in the early 1800s. While the specific metals used in fillings has changed, the treatment itself has remained essentially the same for about 200 years. Before electricity, dentists used drills that were operated with a foot pedal, similar to an old-fashioned sewing machine. Considering the fact that Novocain wasn’t invented until 1903, this meant there were probably a lot of painful filling treatments that patients had to endure if they wanted to repair their teeth.
Paul Revere was a Dentist?
You probably know of Paul Revere, the famous American patriot who played a role in the Revolutionary War. He was a silversmith by trade, but he also earned a living assisting a dentist by cleaning teeth and fabricating and placing false teeth. He even helped a mourning family identify human remains after the war by identifying the unique dental work he had done for him.
Drama Over Dentures
Dentistry may seem a bit boring, but in the mid 1900s there was a very famous murder that happened over dentistry-related patent use. A man named Josiah Bacon bought the patent rights to vulcanized rubber dentures and traveled the country conducting sting operations on dentists who provided them to patients without paying the patent-use fees. The fees often put dentists out of business, and one aggrieved victim, Dr. Samuel Chalfant, vowed to get revenge on the man who ruined his life. He shot Josiah Bacon and became a hero to the many dentists Bacon had ruined.
Cleaning the Teeth
The first mass-produced tooth cleaning products of the modern era were not pastes, but powders. We did not start adding fluoride to toothpaste until about 1960, so earlier cleaning products were made from chalk, soap, baking powder, and other abrasive materials.
We are not the first civilization to determine that clean teeth are healthier teeth. As far back as 4000 B.C., people used to chew on sticks to remove food debris from the teeth. In ancient China, toothbrushes were often made of hog bristles. The traditional Ayurvedic practice of oil pulling (swishing the mouth with oil) was once a common way to keep the mouth cleaner—and some people have recently started doing it again today!
Teeth Blackening, Anyone?
We want our teeth to appear healthier and whiter, nowadays, but there was a time when stains on the teeth were considered a status symbol. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 16th century England, refined sugar became available to Europeans for the first time. Only the rich could afford sugar, which quickly led to tooth decay in the absence of knowledge of dental hygiene. Elizabeth herself was known to have terribly stained teeth, so lower-income people who could not afford sugar often applied charcoal and other darkeners to their teeth to look more like the wealthy.
Visit Chisholm Trail Smile Center if you need a new Marlow/Central dentist. We use modern techniques to make sure our patients get the best care in a comfortable environment. Contact our office at 580-255-4880 to make an appointment.
