Virginia Beach Dentist A HISTORY OF DENTISTRY

Dentistry could not always be termed as an advanced branch of medicine. As a matter of fact, physicians struggled for a long time before developing the sophisticated techniques used in modern dentistry. It goes without saying that this was a very painful journey.

Teeth ailments that began to be explained early on were tooth aches. One of these explanations was that the cause of toothaches was a worm. This worm was pegged down to be the cause of tooth decay. This belief has been found inscribed in the ‘legend of the worm’, an ancient tablet from Nineveh. The dentists of the time who were also general physicians tried to give treatments for this problem.

Egypt is credited by historians as being home to the first dentist at around 3000 BC. His name was Hesi-Re and proof of his profession has been found in inscriptions which touted him as the greatest of all those who dealt with teeth.

Egyptian dentists are believed to have made the greatest strides in the treatment of dental ailments. Simple false teeth were developed by 1500 BC by using a small gold wire to fix teeth together around the gum line.

Another revealing historical record on dentistry is found in the Code of Hammurabi. At that time, dentistry was carried out by general physicians who were regulated by the central government. As a matter of fact, incompetent physicians were given penalties, the maximum of which was removing the physician’s hand.

The use of a chewstick is another dental practice that was done in historical times. This practice is thought to have originated from the Chinese and Babylonians and borrowed by the Romans who were the first to use it. A chewstick was six inches long, smaller that a pencil’s diameter and made of a fibrous wood stick. One end of the chewstick is chewed to separate the fibres after which these are used to scrub the teeth, one at a time. In some Islamic and African communities, the chewstick is still the toothbrush of choice.

Dentistry continued to be advanced by Roman dentists as they began using gold crowns on teeth. Greece also made great strides and Aristotle is credited with having done a comparative analysis of teeth anatomy and proposing the extraction of teeth using forceps. Dentists continued coming up with new ways to treat tooth decay and one of these was drilling into a tooth and then applying inside it, an ointment made of roasted earthworm and a medicinal plant known as spikenard.

The Middle Ages saw perhaps the greatest level of experimentation as far as dentistry was concerned.

Monks and then barbers were the recognized dentists of the time. Barbaric practices in dentistry continued until Pierre Fauchard challenged them in his publication, ‘The Surgeon Dentist’. This marked the threshold point for modern dentistry. In fact Pierre Fauchard is often referred to as the father of modern dentistry.