THROUGH THE AGES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12075, 14 October 1933, Page 9

THROUGH THE AGES

HOW DENTAL SURGERY HAS PROGRESSED

\ EXTRACTIONS ONCE TFJIEIFAfXG OROF.ATj

A cure. for toothache is described in Mio papyrus of mors—a which dales from 3500 to 1000 B. ■ Tr consisted of < ' !: sp.ns-grains. dough, honey, and M • r hirh had in hr- made into a. plnstPr aod a.pp’iod to tlio aching tooth. Artificial tooth, roughly fashioned. ,/ woo'd, haro boon picked up Ffrrrvt.ian sarcophagi.. and both.. W* n -url artificial teeth have, it is as s ert,eA boon found in the months of ri,unpins, tho former topped ;/ oM or gilded mood. T* is supposed ibar. these fillirics mere inserteddnrinrr life, for the purpose of. pveservthe ieeth, though hy some van ; 0 ; 3 if is. .stated that this ™vk may harp been part of an embalming -pro-

ross. • .. 'The celebrated medico' works 0 fhina, refer to toothache, and f!o----spriho nine varieties the m 0 ady. Puncturing Hm g"ms, as w<n - Aisftant, parts of tlie* Body. 'or toe relief"-of "toothache and abscess©* was pra.Pli.spd. Of the Wft sitPs U r nnnrtmi.w which the rhinPSP had, op more for Hm rel'et of toothache. They used gold, silver or steel .tip o " dies, and paid prised the site Uitli a sort. 1 of slow burning vegetable wool applied through a hole m a. com. ft was the belief of the Chinese ■ihat 'there were worms in the teethand among the remedies Hicy "so cl was arsenic made into pills, one being placed near the aching tooth or into the- ear of the opposite side ot the aching organ, whereupon . the pain, so it, was believed, positively ceased, . . Another favourite prescription ■’Tsed hv the Chinese read a s follows: ) y ’Roast a bit of garlic and crush it lietween the teeth, mix with chopped horse-radish seeds or saltpetre, make into a past© with milk, form pills, and introduce one into the, nostril on the opposite side to where the nain is felt. Scribonius Largos, writing during 1b 0 first: century of tlie Christian era., r-xprcssetl the belief that worms were the cause of pain and decay m ihe teeth. This worm superstition existed more than a 10(X> years. La reus suggested that if the seeds of henbane were burned on charcoal, and the fumes inhaled, they woffid cause the worms to 'all from the teeth. It is noteworthy that the- seed buds of henbane when burned form an ash that much resembles worms, and that the drug has a narcotic effect that probably soothed and relieved tlie pain. Coming along to the Middle Ages it is stated in the works of an Arabian author that. • re-plantation of teeth was extensively practised. ,f nu artificial substitutes were made o‘ Ik_M bone to replace those that had boon lost. Tie advocated re-planting teeth that had been removed hy misrako or accident. John. Caddesdeu, an English doctor at Oxford, who lived from 1406 in 1-150. believed' that the fat of a ,green frog would positively caus-o teeth to fall out. Be was also authority for ibo statement that '“the brains of a hare .rubbed on The gum* not only facilitate dentition, but'"ill make ieeth grow again whore they have been lost/’ These remedies were employed hy many later " ritors. who claimed to have performed marvellous cures with them.

Giovanni Plateario (bi ; 'o-L3-k>), !1 professor at Msa, was a pioneer >o whom wo mipht. to‘raise onr hnj. flo was. the first dentist- to use l -" lf eirxino- posture for performing opern.tions' on the teeth, others botor* him haring used rho horizontal T oP '-. -ion. The prevailing custom was to Jot the patient bo prone on the ground nnd to hold his head between the operator 1 s knees with a- vice-lik-grip. Th first authentic record et r oi. -•killings having been placed in T °ci for their preservation during hietime is dated about- 1-ldO. In a hook published in 1630 by the physician to the- Imperial Baths -at Carlsbad, reference is made to many crude and worthless remedies rhat were still used for toothaec.eThis author was one of the first o cast doubt on the value of fumigations to cause worms to f«U fro ™ .the tpeth, though he did not in the least doubt the existence of worms themselves, suggesting oil of vitriolor a decoction made of a frog cooV ed in-vinegar to kill, fkern instead.. Pierre Fail chard, who died m Paris in 1761, is described as the founder of modern dentistry. It was ho who helped to destroy many Qt the ace-old superstitions which stih gripped the people-- He published a '(/vbrk in which he revealed everything

. There was a time-and ib does not seem- to. bo long ngo . 10 , „, a • ifc to the dentist, if at all possible. It- va* when-we postponed a- "-sit to *' - ' , a sure, to be a painful business. -Nobody volnur • • ' Y ;A° „„„- but ill- fent;«- 8 «*,!, *» h “" , roWxvl of Tlomistrv, owotho h»ppy; bm.ta.fc S ro " nd ' i&r™* h, r m-> «p T , Of its crude-' forms seems to have come uno being, us soon ... b/g n.t experience frou-hle. with his teeth Tt was a special tv in Egypt during tho time of. Herod ot s, aboutRdVfor'it is recorded that “Egypt is quite fnll ofr doerdo b , ,hose.for the eyes, those for. the head : some lOr the teeth, th . for the- belly, or for occult maladies.’

lm knew. Able dentists before him had guarded their .secrets lest-some-one might profit at tlioir expense. TTo admitted the possibility of worm--' being in - the teeth, hut stated that lie had never seen them. He was strong in his condemnation of olixM 3 Uvl cures hv magical mean's so mud practised in his day. and refers the large cud increasing number charlatans of the- dav. “There s-ho’rtiv be more dentists ™an n° v ; ci,ns affected wiw' dental diseases. 1h 'once said. TTe advised stating •ihe patient in an easy armcha.r tothe purpose of performing dental- oi> erntions. and condemned the practice of seethe- him on the ground d floor end holding the head het.wen the nnerntor’s knees as nu-skdful and

upsanilarv. f . . Fov fill in- fig h <- !’ rofcn ;™ «»««*. i<-h <*#'• --'-i lastl y f; - rr o - made a full upper set of tcet i f or n, lady of high rank, holding u in place with springs. The materials most in use for making Mf feoth worn human teeth, hippo.no amus tusks, ivory and ox hone, frowns were placed on natural roofs, if healthv, and hold in plaen- with screws or hound to neighbouring teeth. Of the manv pioneers in dentistry to whom we are all thankful for I heir eontrihution to painless extractions, none deserves mention more than Horace Wells, the first to use In vi eh in or gasHis discovery took place hi the following manner: He and his wife attended a. lecture on chemistry and natimal philosophy, given hv Professor Or. Q. Colton in Hartford. America, on December TO. IS4T, in which he demonstrated the effect of laughing gas on willing subiocts for the amusement of tho audience. Hr. Wells inhaled the gas, and also noted its effects on the others. Another spectate, -?nm A. Cooley, was severefv bruised and injured hy his frantic pranks while under the effects of gas without knowing it or feeling the least- pain. From that incident Wells was so convinced that painless operations could he performed under its efTocts that he made arrangements that night with Colton to come to his office next day, and administer the gas on him. while Riggs, his former pupil, extracted a troublesome tooth for him. Thus surgical anaesthesia by means of nitrous oxide was discovered on December 11, 1844. Sir Humphrey Davy had suggested laughing gas for painless operations in 1776, but no' one had successfully used it before Yells.

A few weeks later TV el Is w-ont to Boston to introduce his discovery, hut after giving one demonstration on a. boy who cried out while having a tooth extracted, although he subsequently stated that -he. did not feel any pain, was hissed hy tho students as a hnmhug, denounced «*>s a failure, and the learned doctors °f Boston would -have- nothing further to do with him. Tie returned to Hartford, and after many troubles, due to experimenting on him-sclf too ninth, tie ended his life- on January 2', IS'-S.

Dr. -f. A', dinipsori, of Foot land, discovered the anaesthetic vroperties of (di'orofonn in 1847, and cocaine was first successfully used fo r extractions in 18 S 6. and was in usp for many years.