Dentistry Back Then, Dentistry now

In United States, statistics show that the most stressing job is not police, not fire fighters but dentists. Well, having to look into someone's mouth everyday and sometimes have to deal with the smell would not be pleasant, and on top of that, no one likes a dentist, yea it is reasonable that it is the most stressing job. Although we hate going to the dentist, we know we need them for our health. But how far back does the practice of pulling the teeth out go? Did they hate dentists back then?

Evidence of dentistry can be found in teeth dating from around 7000BC. The teeth that were found in Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan had evidence of drills, possibly for dental practices. Texts dating back to 5000BC note a "tooth worm" as the cause of dental aches. Other texts from Egypt, Japan and China had evidence of dentist practice as well. In Edwin Smith Papyrus, the only surviving copy of Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery, written in 17th century BC, includes the treatment of several dental ailments. The Code of Hammurabi, written in 18th century BC, referenced dental practice twice as a means of punishment. Other texts from Greco-Romans reveal early attempts at dental surgery.

Though artworks of dentists removing teeth from a patient can be found from the medieval times, historically, dentists were not a profession in itself. Dental procedures were performed by barbers or general physicians. Barbers usually only extracted teeth to relieve the pain but often cured a variety of ailments linked to tooth infection. They used a tool called the dental pelican, named because of its resemblance to a pelican's beak) and it was used until the late 18th century. It was replaced by the dental key, modeled after a door key, where it would be inserted into the mouth then its claw would be tightened over a tooth and was rotated to loosen the tooth. The use of the dental key often resulted in the tooth breaking, even jaw fractures and soft tissue damage. The dental key is replaced in the 20th century by the modern forceps that we use today.

The first book focused solely on dentistry was the "Artzney Buchlein" in 1530 and the first dental textbook in English was called "Operator for the Teeth" by Charles Allen in 1685. And if you need someone to blame or to get angry at for inventing such an operation, it would be the French physician Pierre Fauchard, who started dentistry science in the 17th century and has been named "the father of modern dentistry."

Today, dentistry is more than just a health issue. People visit the dentists not because of pain in their mouth but to correct their tooth irregularity. Although tooth irregularity might cause malocclusions, even people without the risk get dental braces to correct their tooth arrangement and work for that perfect smile. Though it seems like a luxury, it might be proof of our advancement in dental science and is nice to see that as time goes on, technology improves, thus a better world for us all.

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