Dentistry Through the Ages: a Timeline (Part IV of V)

In Part IV of this 5-part series detailing the evolution of dentistry from its ancient origins to modern day, we’ll take a look at dentistry during the 19^th Century.

1801

Richard C. Skinner writes the Treatise on the Human Teeth, the first dental book published in America. 

1820

Claudius Ash establishes the first dental manufacturing company in London.

1825

Samuel Stockton begins commercial manufacture of porcelain teeth. His S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company establishes and dominates the dental supply market throughout the 19th century.

1830 

French brothers, the Crawcours, introduce amalgam into the U.S., which sparks the “amalgam wars,” a bitter controversy within the dental profession over the use of amalgam fillings because of the dangers cited about their mercury content. Although the American Dental Association later deems amalgam safe, and still does today, some controversy still exists.

1831

James Snell designs the first reclining dental chair.

1839

The American Journal of Dental Science, the world’s first dental journal, begins publication.

1839

Charles Goodyear invents the vulcanization process for hardening rubber. The resulting Vulcanite, an inexpensive material easily molded to the mouth, makes an excellent base for false teeth, and is soon adopted for use by dentists.

1843

The first British Dental Journal is published.

1844

Horace Wells, a Connecticut dentist, discovers that nitrous oxide can be used as an anesthesia and successfully uses it to conduct several extractions in his private practice. He conducts the first public demonstration of its use in 1845, but the demonstration is considered a failure when the patient cries out during the operation.

1855

Robert Arthur originates the cohesive gold foil method, which allows gold to be inserted into a cavity with minimal pressure.

1858

The Dental Hospital of London opens, the first clinical training establishment for British dentists.

1859

Twenty-six dentists meet in Niagara Falls, New York, and form the American Dental Association.

1869

Dr. Robert Tanner Freeman, graduating from Harvard University Dental School, becomes the first African-American to earn a dental degree.

1871

A tooth-colored filling material, silicate cement, is introduced.

1871

James B. Morrison patents the first commercially manufactured foot-treadle dental engine. Morrison’s inexpensive, mechanized tool revolutionizes the practice of dentistry. The same year, George F. Green receives a patent for the first electric dental engine. 

1877

The Wilkerson hydraulic dental chair is introduced.

1880

The British Dental Association is founded.

1884

Cocaine is introduced as a local anesthetic by Carl Koller.

1890

Willoughby Miller, an American dentist living in Germany, notes the microbial basis of dental decay in his book Micro-Organisms of the Human Mouth. This generates an unprecedented interest in oral hygiene and starts a worldwide movement to promote regular tooth brushing and flossing. 

1895

German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers the x-ray, and the following year, a prominent New Orleans dentist, C. Edmond Kells, takes the first dental x-ray in the U.S. of a live person.

1899

Edward Hartley Angle classifies the various forms of malocclusion and is credited with making orthodontics a dental specialty. He also establishes the Angle School of Orthodontia in St. Louis in 1900, the first school of orthodontia. 

In our next installment, we’ll take a look at dentistry up to modern times.  

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Dentistry Through the Ages: a Timeline (Part III of V)

In Part III of this 5-part series detailing the evolution of dentistry from its ancient origins to modern day, we’ll take a look at dentistry during the 18^th Century.

1746

Claude Mouton describes a gold crown and post to be retained in a patient’s root canal. He also recommends white enameling for gold crowns for a more esthetic appearance.

1760

John Baker, the earliest medically trained dentist to practice in America, immigrates from England.

1764

First lectures about the teeth take place at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and are given by James Rae.

1768-1770

Paul Revere places advertisements in a Boston newspaper offering his services as a dentist. 

1771

John Hunter publishes The Natural History of Human Teeth, giving a scientific basis to dental anatomy.

1776

Paul Revere performs the first post-mortem dental forensics. Revere identifies his friend, Dr. Joseph Warren, who died in the Battle of Breed’s Hill. Revere is able to identify the dental bridge that he constructed for Warren.

1780

William Addis manufactures the first modern toothbrush.

1789

Frenchman Nicolas Dubois de Chemant patents his invention of porcelain teeth. 

1790

John Greenwood, one of George Washington’s dentists, constructs the first known dental foot engine to rotate a drill by adapting his mother’s foot treadle spinning wheel.

1790

Josiah Flagg, a prominent American dentist, constructs the first chair made specifically for dental patients. Flagg attaches an adjustable headrest and instrument carrier to a wooden Windsor chair.

In our next installment, we’ll take a look at dentistry during the 19^th Century.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Dentistry Through the Ages: a Timeline (Part II of V)

In Part II of this 5-part series detailing the evolution of dentistry from its ancient origins to modern day, we’ll take a look at the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras.

500-1000 AD

During the early Middle Ages in Europe, medicine, surgery and dentistry are generally practiced by monks, the most educated people of the period.

700 AD

A medical text in China mentions the use of “silver paste,” a type of amalgam.

1130-1163 AD

A series of papal edicts prohibits monks from performing any type of surgery. Because barbers regularly visit monasteries to shave the heads of the monks and are equipped with knives and razors, they assume the monks’ surgical duties of bloodletting, lancing abscesses and tooth extraction.

1210 AD

After the Guild of Barbers is established in France, the profession evolves into two groups. There are surgeons who perform complex operations, and lay barbers, who perform more routine hygienic services.

1400 AD

A series of royal decrees in France prohibits lay barbers from practicing all surgical procedures except bleeding, cupping, leeching and extracting teeth.

1530 AD

The Little Medicinal Book for All Kinds of Diseases and Infirmities of the Teeth  by Artzney Buchlein is published in Germany and is the first book devoted entirely to dentistry. Written for barbers and surgeons who treat the mouth, it covers practical topics, including oral hygiene, tooth extraction, drilling teeth and gold fillings.

1563 AD

Batholomew Eusttachius publishes the first accurate book on dental anatomy, Libellus de dentibus.

1575 AD

In France Ambrose Pare, known as the Father of Surgery, publishes his Complete Works. This includes practical information about dentistry, including tooth extraction, treatment of decay and jaw fractures.

1683 AD

Antony van Leeuwenhoek identifies oral bacteria using a microscope.

1685 AD

The first English dental textbook—The Operator for the Teeth—is written by Charles Allen.

In our next installment, we’ll take a look at dentistry during the 18^th Century.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Dentistry Through the Ages: a Timeline (Part I of V)

This is the first of a 5-part series detailing the evolution of dentistry from its ancient origins to modern day. When we at the Ferber Dental Group researched this information, we heaved a collective sigh of relief that we live in the 20^th Century. Because even just a few decades ago, let alone thousands of years, dentistry wasn’t very pleasant. Also, keep in mind while reading this that Novocain wasn’t introduced until about 1900 AD.

7000 BC

Evidence of ancient dentistry has recently been found in a Neolithic graveyard in ancient Pakistan. Teeth dating from around 7000 to 5500 BC show evidence of holes from dental drills. The teeth were found in people of the Indus Valley Civilization.

5000 BC

A Sumerian text of this date describes “tooth worms” as the cause of dental decay. Evidence of this belief has also been found in ancient India, Egypt, Japan and China. The legend of the worm is also found in the writings of Homer, and as late as the 1300s AD, the surgeon Guy de Chauliac still promoted the belief that worms cause tooth decay.

2600 BC

Hesy-Re, an Egyptian scribe, often called the first “dentist,” dies. An inscription on his tomb includes the title “the greatest of those who deal with teeth, and of physicians.” This is the earliest known reference to a person identified as a dental practitioner.

1800 BC

In the 18th century BC, the Code of Hammurabi referenced dental extraction twice as it related to punishment. Examination of the remains of some ancient Egyptians and Greco-Romans reveals early attempts at dental prosthetics and surgery.

1700-1550 BC

An Egyptian text, the Ebers Papyrus, refers to diseases of the teeth and various toothache remedies.

500-300 BC

Hippocrates and Aristotle write about dentistry, including the eruption pattern of teeth, treating decayed teeth and gum disease, extracting teeth with forceps, and using wires to stabilize loose teeth and fractured jaws.

100 BC

Celsus, a Roman medical writer, writes extensively in his important compendium of medicine on oral hygiene, stabilization of loose teeth, and treatments for toothache, teething pain, and jaw fractures.

166-201 AD

The Etruscans practice dental prosthetics using gold crowns and fixed bridgework.

In our next installment, we’ll take a look at dentistry through the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Emerging Science Might Someday “Grow” Dental Implants

Dr. Jeremy Mao at Columbia University Medical Center is working on a dental procedure whereby stem cells from human teeth are placed into a scaffolding or mold type device that allows the cells to grow and essentially regenerate into an anatomically correct tooth.

According to a study published in the Journal of Dental Research, in years to come, the procedure may enable people to simply regrow a new set of teeth as opposed to undergoing treatment with dentures or dental implants.

By using a procedure developed in the university's Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Dr. Mao can direct the body's own stem cells toward the scaffold, which is made of natural materials. Once the stem cells have colonized the scaffold, a tooth can grow in the socket and then merge with the surrounding tissue.

Dr. Mao's technique not only eliminates the need to grow teeth in a Petri dish, but it is the first to achieve regeneration of anatomically correct teeth by using the body's own resources. Factor in that a complete tooth can be regenerated in as fast as nine weeks and the future technology becomes very appealing.

Although the procedure has not yet been attempted on humans, Columbia University has filed for patents on the technology and will likely seek to commercialize it in the future. In the meantime, we at the Ferber Dental Group will keep a close eye on this emerging science while continuing to use the newest in denture and dental-implant technology to restore the smile of your youth.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Toothpaste A to Z: Final in a Four-Part Series

In our first three installments of “Toothpaste A to Z,” we covered the history of toothpaste, ingredients and what they’re used for. In this, our fourth and final installment, we’ll put it all together by offering tips about how to choose a toothpaste that’s appropriate for you.

1.     Choose a toothpaste that contains fluoride. Fluoride toothpastes are proven to prevent cavities. 

2.     Consult your dentist or hygienist about your particular oral health's greatest needs and look for products within that category. For example, if tartar buildup is your personal nemesis, you’ll want to consider brands that control tartar buildup.

3.     If you have tooth sensitivity issues, avoid the use of whitening toothpastes, as bleaching agents and abrasives aggravate sensitivity, and look in the category of toothpastes that help dull your sensitivity to hot, cold, sweet and sour. 

4.     Consider your personal preference, whether a preferred brand or flavor or even gel versus paste. You’re much more apt to brush regularly and thoroughly with a toothpaste whose flavor, for example, you enjoy.

5.     If you don’t get the expected results right away, don’t immediately blame the toothpaste. Give it some time and revisit your brushing technique.

6.     And, of course, if a new toothpaste is irritating to your gums, switch it out with another. It could contain an ingredient to which you’re sensitive.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Toothpaste A to Z: Third in a Four-Part Series

In our last installment of “Toothpaste A to Z,” we went over the specific compounds contained in many modern toothpastes. In Part III, we’ll identify the basic types of toothpaste and what they’re intended to do.

The most common toothpaste type, of course, is a fluoride toothpaste and is used to stop tooth enamel decalcification, and protect teeth from tooth carries (small fissures), decay and cavities. Most brands of toothpaste today contain fluoride, whether or not the manufacturers market them that way.

  

Plaque- and gingivitis-prevention toothpastes have additional antibacterial ingredients to fight the growth of bacteria and the formation of dental plaque.

Tooth-whitening toothpastes have a higher abrasion value than other types of toothpastes to mechanically remove the stains caused by smoking and eating certain foods. They also can contain chemicals such as peroxide that bleach the teeth.

Sensitivity toothpastes contain agents to relieve tooth sensitivity caused by eating hot or cold foods and those that are particularly sweet or sour.

Tartar-control toothpastes contain pyrophosphates that reduce new tartar buildup. It is important to note, however, that tartar-control toothpastes only help prevent the buildup of new tartar. They do not remove existing tartar.

Lastly, some toothpaste companies market their product as effective breath fresheners and add flavoring agents and antibacterials to fight halitosis. Others enhance the taste to appeal to children.

In our fourth and final installment, we’ll put all the information together from Parts I, II and III to learn how to select the toothpaste that’s right for you.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.

Toothpaste A to Z: Second in a Four-Part Series

In our first installment of “Toothpaste A to Z,” we briefly covered the history of toothpaste from the time of its invention up until the 1950s, when fluoride was added. In Part II, we’ll detail the many ingredients in modern toothpastes and their purpose.

Modern toothpastes contain many active ingredients designed to offer protection against various dental conditions. The most common of these ingredients include:

Fluoride

Fluoride is the most popular active ingredient because of its proven ability to prevent cavities. Most toothpaste brands use sodium fluoride (NaF). Some brands use sodium monofluorophosphate (Na2PO3F). Concentrations of fluoride vary from about 1,000 to 1,450 ppm.

Antimicrobial Agents 

Antimicrobial agents such as triclosan, zinc chloride and zinc citrate are added to slow the growth of damaging bacteria in the mouth or kill it altogether, which prevents the buildup of dental plaque and staves off gum disease.

Surfactants

Surfactants are detergents and other foaming agents that help carry away debris from between teeth. Common toothpaste surfactants include sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate.

Anti-tartar Agents

Pyrophosphates such as tetrasodium pyrophosphate are water softeners that remove calcium and magnesium from the saliva, which prevents buildup of tartar (calcified plaque).

De-sensitising Agents 

Additives like strontium chloride block the tiny crevices that enable cold and heat sensations to reach the tooth's nerve. Agents such as potassium citrate and potassium nitrate actually chemically disable the mechanism of pain transmission between nerve cells. 

Abrasives

Abrasives help to whiten teeth. Some common types include silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). 

Other Teeth Whiteners

Some teeth whiteners such as hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate peroxide work chemically to bring teeth back to their original color.

Then, of course, there are various flavor additives as well as toothpastes fortified with a variety of goodies, from vitamins to enzymes, that don’t do a lot to improve oral health, but do move product. No matter what type of toothpaste you prefer, however, the most important “ingredient” in a complete program of oral hygiene is using it at least three times a day.

For information about the Ferber Dental Group, dental implants, dentures or periodontal concerns, call 561-439-8888 or visit www.ferberdental.com.