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History of Dentistry

When you’re sitting back in the dentist’s office, chances are good you don’t really care where the field began. However, if you want to understand just how far things have come since its early beginnings, it might help to know a little about the history of dentistry . While it might seem like dentistry can be a bit barbaric, we actually have it pretty good in terms of pain relief, dental procedures, and dental hygienists . Here’s what the history of dentistry reveals about how far tooth care has come.

Where Dental Care Began

While no one can be completely sure where dentistry began, the most common answer to the question lies in the Indus Valley in 7000BCE. Here, the dental practitioners would use common bow drills to drill problems out of teeth. What’s interesting is that there is no mention as to whether or not this tooth drilling involved any anesthetic, so one can not be sure if these teeth procedures were horrifying to the patient or if they caused other problems with the trauma of the pain. Of course, there may have been pain management practices which were based on plants, but the research isn’t clear as to what they may have included.

How Tooth Pulling was Used to Cure Disease

The reasoning behind tooth extraction and tooth drilling in the past was that early dentists believe that other illnesses of the body took root in the mouth first. So, by drilling the trouble away, the rest of the body could be cured. In Sumerian times, the idea of a ‘tooth worm’ seems to have been the presumed cause of cavities and dental decay. By removing this, the problems could be eliminated.

But in the Greek and the Roman times, the dentistry got better and more sophisticated, including dental crowns and even wires. And as time went on, some medicines were used to fight infections and to reduce pain for the patient undergoing the procedures.

The Middle Ages introduced barbers and doctors as the ones who would perform dental procedures, though the idea of actual dentistry would emerge in the mid 1500s and begin to become more modernized. Textbooks began to be produced and a wave of consistent dental practices was instated.

Today’s Dental System

In today’s time, there are number ways in which teeth can be cured of troubles. We can even straighten teeth with dental specialists like an orthodontist . Plus, we have not only learned how to fix problems, but we have also learned how to add veneers and how to use other cosmetic surgery practices to make teeth appear as perfect as possible. These new abilities allow everyone to have the most perfect teeth possible, as well as the healthiest mouths possible.

The history of dentistry is still developing as we speak. In the last few years, sedation dentistry has become a popular choice as has teeth whitening and other cosmetic procedures. Who knows what the future may bring for our smiles?