You may find your next dental visit more pleasant after a peek at dentistry of the past. Luckily, my parents believed in dentists. Some would rather exchange their teeth for bridges & dentures. Prior to 1957, when the Borden air-turbine, hi-speed drill was first used, I recall the vibrating pain in my head from the old slow-drone drills. Visiting the dentist was an ordeal. On my first visit at age four, a small girls tongue got cut by the drill. She screamed insanely and I even saw some of the blood on tissues! So much for bravery. At seven, Camp Molloy took me into rural Mattituck where they put a temp/baby filling in my tooth. As a teen, my dentist was shocked to find it still in place. Novacain was here in 1905, but I would not let a needle near my mouth. And no one asked if Id prefer the laughing gas from 1844. It wouldve been cool to laugh in the dental chair. Now lets go back in dental history to when all methods were painful. As far back as 9,000 years ago, when Bow Drills were used. See the bow drill Pic... feel its excruciating pain! Helpers had to hold victims down. But think about it. By filling cavities to save teeth, if they did, these people were far ahead of their time. Just dont try to convince their hapless victims! From 5000 BC into the 1300s, it was believed cavities were made by The Tooth Worm. (Not the Fairy, who is good.) After all, they could actually see the worm holes! In 700 BC, the Etruscans used gold wire to make crude bridges. Prior to 1700, dentists were either barbers or artisans. Artisans were tooth mechanics. Paul Revere was one for seven years. Did he fill with silver? Barbers were far more versatile. They could cut hair, shave your face, rip out your molar, or give you an enema... whatever your fancy! (A One-Stop-Shop.) If you wonder, the barber was the best, if not only way to get cleaned out. Lasted a full week! There were barbers on the Mayflower. Guess why! Before 1700, there was only one sure-cure... rip the damned thing out! The tools would let anyone do it. And it never failed to end the pain. Often, to get one out, they had to crush the tooth letting the pain fall where it may... a full cure... barring infection. Soon, patients had no teeth left! But toothless was better than agony-ridden! After 1400, the rip-out was done by the Pelican. Following weeks of escalating pain, the patient would beg to get it torn out! By 1800, the Dental Key, plus a swift twist of the wrist did the job. Akin to the string & door. Today, we rely on Forceps... like bent pliers. It was George Washingtons dentist who created the Hand Drill, run by a foot treadle taken from a spinning wheel. And you thought bow drilling was painful? Not for George though. George wore a set of wooden teeth! He just called in his skilled carpenter. Then came the porcelains. Mid-1800s saw the use of porcelain teeth to replace the repulsive ones taken from corpses. Yes... that is how new teeth were procured! Which is really why George wore wood choppers, his reasoning now lost to history. Such cadaver teeth, harvested from graveyards, were widely sold as replacements. (A real neat summer job for pesky kids!) We have Wedgwood to thank for the powder used by the French and English to make porcelain teeth. This cut the shortfalls wrought by the endless extractions. In fact, from transplanting teeth we learned about tissue rejection. In 1871 came the Electric Drill. By centurys end, we realized caries came from bacteria. So we junked the old Tooth Worm and introduced a new era of oral hygiene. It was 1938 before the nylon toothbrush proved Dr. Lyons was far ahead of his time. (Not in Canada!) I can still hear the feuds on the radio over the fluoridation of NYs public water. They fought endlessly. Too bad it took so long in coming to NY, since it led to 50% fewer cavities in kids. But some still claim long-term fluoride-poisoning causes dementia. We mustve felt we could live with demented seniors, but not a bunch of toothless, half-crazed and starving kids. Modern dentistry has become super complex... with all sorts of specialties. It is also nearly painless with a lot less even being needed. I know because I did training programs for the J&J Dental Division, such as, Pit & Fissure Sealants. I also tried to become a dentist... but luckily I flunked organic chem, the standard for getting in. Lucky... since my own dentist at 76 is passed retirement age but must still work on his feet just to pay the bills. He suffers the twin burden of being honest and also caring about his patients! I couldnt stand scrutinizing slimy, tartar-encrusted teeth all day. For that matter, I couldnt stand standing! Dentists have a high suicide rate because they inflict pain on their fellow humans! Hope you feel better about your next visit... just be glad you were not born into such excruciating pain!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 22:23:56 +0000