CR5 Issue 175 January 2020

Although most of us hate
visiting the dentist, twenty-first
century dental practices are a
walk in the park compared to
what our ancestors endured.
Common perception is that our
ancestors must have suffered
from terrible teeth. In fact, the
ancient Egyptians, Greeks and
Romans probably had better
teeth than we do today due to
the lack of refined sugar in their
diet.
Like us, they cleaned their teeth
with abrasive and breathsweetening
concoctions. Made
from eggshells, soot, bones,
pumice, myrrh or mint, they
were usually applied with
a cloth or the fingers. The
ancient Chinese had invented
toothbrushes using pigs’ bristles
but although toothpicks and
even dental floss were around,
they weren’t in common use in
Europe until 1780, when William
Addis manufactured the first
toothbrush.
Toothache has long been a
human scourge and there have
been many outlandish remedies.
Scribonius Largus, (his real
name, not a Monty Python
Medieval dentist
removing tooth
The History of Dentistry
invention!) was physician to
the Roman Emperor Claudius.
To treat toothache, he would
fumigate the mouth with
smoke produced by burning
henbane seeds followed by an
oral rinse with hot water. This
was supposed to evict the tiny
‘tooth worms’ that for hundreds
of years were believed to be the
cause of cavities and toothache.
False teeth were also around
in ancient times, usually made
of animal bone, ivory or wood.
‘Tooth worms’ were
believed to be the cause
of cavities
The Etruscans, a pre-Roman
civilization, were apparently
particularly skilled at dentures
using ox bone fixed in place by
gold wire.
Traditionally, physicians would
treat tooth problems but the
medieval era saw the arrival of
specialist ‘tooth drawers’, the
best being retained by royalty
(King Henry VIII was said to
have one). Travelling fairs and
markets often featured a tooth
drawer, usually identified by
jester’s clothing and a string
of teeth hanging around their
neck. Blacksmiths, jewellers
and apothecaries would also
pull teeth as a sideline using
whatever instruments they had
at their disposal.
In 1540, the Company of
Barbers was merged with
that of surgeons to create
The United Barber-Surgeons
Company. Subsequently, highstreet
barbers were able to
carry out rudimentary surgery
that included dental work
(hence the striped ‘blood and
bandages’ barbers’ pole).
The first English book on
dentistry was The Operator
for the Teeth by Charles Allen,
published in 1685. ‘Operators
for the teeth’ were in fact the
earliest dentists, as they were
not only skilled enough to
extract teeth but could also
replace them with dentures
or false teeth made from
materials like gold, silver and
ivory (from walrus, elephant
or hippo). But by far the
best material for false teeth
was other human teeth!
Consequently a market quickly
sprang up where teeth were
either robbed from corpses
or bought by extraction from
the mouths of the destitute
(as in when young Fantine sells
her teeth in Victor Hugo’s Les
Miserables).
Allen also invented a recipe for
whitening toothpaste made
from powdered coral, rose
water and a tree resin called
‘dragon’s blood’.
During the seventeenth
century, French physician
and dental pioneer Pierre
Fauchard was one of the first
practitioners to explain how
sugar in the mouth forms acids
that decay enamel and cause
cavities. He also wrote about
methods to straighten teeth
using orthodontics in his book
The Surgeon Dentist, published
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