Ever wonder what dentistry looked like hundreds or even thousands of years ago? Well, it wasn’t pleasant! While we have the benefit of using current technology and scientifically proven practices, our historical colleagues used some practices that were … well, grotesque! Here are a few fun and interesting historical dental facts that you won’t believe!
The History of Dental Floss
Ever wondered why, when and how dental floss was invented? You think modern humans were the first ones to come up with the idea of flossing food particles from between their teeth?
While the exact first dates aren’t known, researchers have found evidence of prehistoric humans using floss and toothpicks. It is believed they used horse hair and twigs to dislodge food from between their teeth.
Modern dental floss was invented by American dentist Dr. Levi Spear Parmly in 1815. His initial floss design featured waxed silken thread. Flossing didn’t gain traction for many years following Dr. Parmly’s invention: mass production of floss didn’t start in the USA until 1882, and flossing wasn’t broadly promoted as part of good oral hygiene until the 1940’s.
Cavities Aren’t a Modern Thing, Either!
If our prehistoric ancestors were flossing and picking food from their teeth, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that cavities aren’t a modern-day challenge. Cavities have existed for as long as humans have had teeth!
In fact, for many years, people believed that toothache and mouth pain was caused by toothworms, microscopic “worms” that would eat away at the pulp inside the tooth. If someone felt tooth pain it was because a toothworm was thrashing around inside their tooth.
Some shady dentists of the day even went so far as to surreptitiously slip maggots into their patients mouths as they were extracting an aching tooth. After extracting the tooth, the dentist would remove the maggot to the marvel of the patient!
Once the toothworm theory lost traction and dentists began understanding what cavities really were, they used the tools and materials of their day to fill cavities: small stones and even jewels were used to fill cavities, held in place by beeswax and soft metals like gold, tin and silver.
Weird & Wonderful “Remedies” for Toothaches
Think getting a cavity filled isn’t a lot of fun? Here is some toothache “cures” people used to believe in:
- Spitting in a frog’s mouth or holding a frog against the side of a person’s cheek or head was believed to relieve toothache. Poor frogs.
- Rinsing an aching tooth with a mouthwash made by boiling a dog’s teeth in wine. We get the wine part, but the dog’s teeth?
- Boiling earthworms in oil and dripping the oil into your ear is an obvious cure for toothache, right? Is it ironic that earthworms don’t even have teeth?
- Got a toothache? Get some “spider juice”! This medieval concoction consisted of boiling spiders and eggshells in oil until reduced to one-third of its initial volume and holding the mixture in the one’s mouth. Yum.
Do You Know Who the First “Dentist” Ever Was?
The first ever “dentist” is believed to be an ancient Egyptian Hesy-Re, who lived during the third dynasty, approximately 2500 years BC.
Hesy-Re was a high-ranking official, trusted as a ‘Confidant of the King’ under the reign of pharaohs Djoser and possibly Sekhemkhet.
Researchers have uncovered findings in his tomb that he was a well-regarded artist and craftsman. One of Hesy-Re’s titles was Wer-ibeh-senjw, and when combined with his talent as an ivory cutter, one possible interpretation of this title is “great one of the dentists”, making Hesy-Re one of the first dentists in human history!
Orion Dental provides a full range of dental services for the entire family, and luckily, we use a more fact-based and scientific approach to dentistry than some of our historical colleagues! If you’re looking for a new family dentist in Milton or Scarborough to help take care of your family’s teeth and mouths, give us a call and book your first appointment!
