The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-12-05
CRUDE STYLE OF DENTISTRY.
Modern Methods Date from the six.
tcC,rth Century.

III N N'ultl bCHUOI III DOSfBU " u
collection Of hundreds Of OLD dental
Instruments, the fathers, grand
fathers and great-grandfathers Of
the instruments with which we are
all more or less familiar in the hands
of modern dentists. The ancient
tools are moro suggestive of wood
carving than of dental operations,
and person uniformed on the sub
ject would handle the old keys" as
they were called, and guess almost
any purpose in the world for them
rather than the real one of wrench
Ing tooth out of human jaw. One
of the most ponderous of these in
struments was made by an American
blacksmith, little moro than ffty
years ago, and used by him to OK
tract teeth---a curious commentary
on the then general condition of G
science that Is now so widespread.
Loss than century ago there
wero only hundred practicing dem
lists on this side of the water. There
is reason to believe that the number
of rough and ready surgeon dentists
was much greater than we may have
any idea Of The famous Aescula-
plus, patron of physicians, is said to
have been the first tooth puller in
Roman history and there are records
also of the presence of dentists In
Egypt more than 1900 years ago.
How they worked, however, is one Of
the interesting secrets that remains
kept, although It is known that they
had some method of filling teeth and
even used gold for that purpose. The
first known mention of the toothpick
was made during the first century OF
the Christian era--and so far as
may now be Judged. It very much re-
sembled the little wooden instru-
ment that modern politeness declares
should never be used In public.
There are also dentlfrices-an
Arabian produce-brighten of the
mouth" for example, which was eT-
IDENTIFY confined to comparatively few
users.
Modern dentistry and modern den
tai instruments date only from the
OF the Middle Ages evolved host OF
charlatans, whose pictures may still
occasionally be seen in tho early
prints and who charmed away tooth
ache by forms of magic which show
that the teeth of their patients could
hardly have been in such very seri-
Gus condition. From these charlatan
I. to 4 If,I
very much as the all-important SCI
enlist of to-day may be traced back
directly to the ancient alchemist.
Among other things they bought liv-
ing teeth and transplanted them-a
horrible instance of which In later
times may be remembered by any
one who has read Victor Hugo's Los
Miserables."
One of the first printed books on
dentistry was published about the
middle OF the sixteenth century in
Spain. The book was called Brief
and Compendious Colloquy on the
structure of the Denture and the
Wonderful Construction Of the
Mouth. With Many Remedies and
Necessary Advice. Together With the
Mode of Treating and Identifying
the Teeth" and ended with an en-
craving Of st. Appolonia-the patron
saint Of dentistry because her mar
tyrdom had included the extraction
Of her teeth. This one book embraced
all that was then known Of dem
tistry.
1t was not until 172S that Peril
Fouchard, the most celebrated den
tai operator of the time in Paris.
began using the first dental chair, In
which he sometimes performed the
curious and practical bygone opera
ton of extracting a tooth, treating 1t
for decay and then putting 1t back
again-an operation that. however
expedltiously performed. could never
have been invariably successful, al
though It is still done in emergen-
c!es. One of the modern cases of den
tistry, for example. comes In this
category.