1945 Grand Rapids, MI, first city in the world to fluoridate drinking water. He also described a method of bonding resin to tooth enamel, enabling dentists to repair cracked enamel on front teeth. 1957 John Borden invented a high speed air-driven handpiece, increasing drill power from the traditional 5,000 rpm to 300,000 rpm, which shortened the time to prepare a tooth for a filling to a matter of minutes. 1958 First fully-reclining dental chair introduced, allowing more patient and dentist comfort and allowed for the dentist to have an assistant help him with the procedures. 1960 Electric toothbrush introduced.
Most dentists have dental assistants helping with procedures.
This drastically improved efficiency and shortened treatment time. 1980's Per Ingvar Branemark described techniques for dental implants. Into the 21st Century Integrating dentistry into comprehensive health care. Increased focus on the link between oral health and overall health. Gene-mediate therapeutics, which means altering the genetic structure teeth to make them impervious to decay.