Dentistry may not be the oldest profession, but for reasons of sheer, tearful necessity it is surely right up there among the Top 10 of humanity's primal callings.
Palaeontologists have found Cro-Magnon skulls dating back 25,000 years that show evidence of tooth decay. The incidence of cavities and other dental problems really emerged, however, with the advent of agriculture and the increased availability of starchy grains and sweet fruits.
The earliest dentists pulled teeth or, as shown by 5000-year-old skulls from Egypt, drilled holes in the jaw to allow abscesses to drain. Afterward, they very likely scolded their patients for lax oral care and handed them the era's equivalent of a toothbrush and toothpaste - small twigs softened and flattened at one end to augment the cleaning surface. The Chinese invented the modern toothbrush about 1000 years ago, with bristles from a horse's mane attached to handles of ivory.
Toothpaste is likewise ancient, the earliest mixtures consisting of powdered fruit, talc and burnt shells, perhaps sweetened with honey, and mixed with lizard livers, mouse parts and urine.
In some parts of the world, early dentists became quite adept at making false teeth. In 700 BC, the Etruscans carved beautiful fakes from ivory and bone, securing them to the patient's abutting teeth with gold bridgework.
For those with few or no viable teeth remaining, dentists began designing dentures, the upper and lower plates held together with steel springs. Wealthy customers ordered flashy dentures with teeth of silver, gold, agate and mother of pearl.
One persistent myth has it that George Washington wore wooden dentures, but wood cannot weather the corrosive effects of saliva. Dental historians say the first president's falsies were fashioned from more durable materials, including teeth extracted from human and animal cadavers.
Dentists have been cleaning out decay and plugging up cavities for many hundreds of years, using as filling material such as stone chips, resin, cork, turpentine, gum, lead and gold leaf.
With the invention of the dreaded, power-driven dental drill in the 19th century, many more people could afford to be drilled and filled and so the demand arose for a standardised filler, eventually resulting in a so-called amalgam such as the one used today.
Amalgam contains as a stabilising ingredient small amounts of mercury, which some people prefer not having in their mouths, opting instead for plastic fillings.
Among the most striking developments in dental hygiene was the fluoridation of water beginning in the mid-20th century.
Fluoride helps protect teeth by hooking onto enamel and enhancing its resilience against destructive acids from bacteria.
The New York Times
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