Dental Professionals and Dental Treatments Through Time

There has been evidence of dentistry throughout not only homosapien history but in Neanderthal history too. Although dental treatments were very different from today's dentistry, the core aims of eliminating as much tooth pain as possible were still present, however only in more recent history did the aim to prevent dental issues became prevalent - as a result of the work of Pierre Fauchard. Read ahead, and let Acorn Dental Health take you through a brief history of dental treatments.

Ancient Dental Treatments

Within a recent study at the University of Kansas it has been made evident Neanderthals too utilised early forms of dental treatments. David Frayer, a professor emeritus of anthropology, observed the teeth found from Neanderthals with a light microscope to record occlusal wear, dentin scratches and toothpick groove evidence. They found some of the premolars within the Neanderthals had been moved over the lifespan of the Neanderthal and ruled out post-mortem movement - which indicated the Neanderthal attempted making tools to move the twisted premolar in order to gain further comfort.

As well as Neanderthal dentistry, ancient human dentistry was also evident within a Neolithic graveyard in modern-day Pakistan, in which they found teeth which had been exposed to drilling, this dated back to between 7500-9000 years ago! Additionally, scientists have recently used synchrotron radiation computed microtomography to determine a filling found within a tooth in Slovenia, which is 6500 years old. They found the filling to be made of beeswax, and this is indicative of how dental

treatments are far older than some first believe.

Modern Historical Dental Professionals

In terms of more modern dental professionals, Pierre Fauchard certainly paved the way for what one would typically expect from dental treatment today. Most notably from Fauchard, he drew the parallel between tooth decay and sugar and acidic foods. As much as he cleverly created many surgical dentistry tools, he was the first dental professional to promote a prevention policy, as well as treatment. Furthermore, another dental professional to raise the profile of dentistry was Francis Brodie Imlach, who was the first dentist to use chloroform to extract a tooth, which was the first very effective pain relief in dentistry.

History of Cosmetic Dentistry

As well as Fauchard identifying sugar being a cause of tooth decay he also worked on cosmetic dentistry. He utilised ivory as a substitute for lost teeth, and created braces which straightened teeth with a gold metal structure and linen to secure them in place. However cosmetic dentistry is evident far earlier than Fauchard’s work, the Etruscans who lived in modern-day Italy during 700B.C, made teeth look flawless by creating gold teeth.

Acorn Dental Health Professionals

Although we’ll no longer be using the Neolithic technique of beeswax as a filling for your teeth, we can offer you our high-quality modern dentistry! Just like the Etruscans we know how important it is to feel confident about your teeth, which is why we offer dental cosmetics such as teeth whitening as an effective treatment to help improve the appearance of your teeth.

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like advice on any dental treatment queries or would like to explore the option of dental cosmetics with our dental professionals.