When did humans start looking after their teeth properly?

skysmom65

Some researchers believe that there is clear evidence of dental drilling in human teeth found in Pakistan that date to 7000 B.C., but unquestioned evidence of dentistry is found only from subsequent millenia. Excellent crowns and bridges were made by the Etruscans in the 7th cent. B.C. At about that time, teeth were being extracted in Asia Minor as a cure for bodily ills and diseases. Skills achieved by the Etruscans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were largely lost during the Middle Ages, when barbers and roving bands of charlatans practiced unskilled dentistry at marketplaces and fairs. Abulcasis, a Spanish Moor, was one of the few in his time who studied dental surgery, leaving behind instruments and theories quite advanced for the 10th cent. A.D. French scientist Pierre Fauchard is considered the founder of modern dentistry; by the end of the 17th cent., he was making fillings of lead, tin, and gold and devising artificial dentures. In the 18th cent., German scientist Philip Pfaff was making dentures of plaster of Paris, and shortly thereafter the French discovered how to mold porcelain into dentures. The first American to make use of this process was Charles Willson Peale; he who made the now-famous set of false teeth for George Washington. More below: http://www.answers.com/history%20of%20dentistry Sep 19 06, 12:19 PM

arctic_wolves

Welcome to a time so long ago that people with no dental insurance still could get their teeth drilled, and perhaps filled. Flint-wielding specialists performed the work between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago. A total of 11 teeth from nine adults who lived during that period contain holes drilled with sharpened flint points, according to a new report. The teeth came from residents of a prehistoric farming village called Mehrgarh in what is now Pakistan. These discoveries represent the earliest known examples of dental work, say Roberto Macchiarelli of the University of Poitiers in France and his colleagues. Drilling occurred in cheek teeth, indicating that the dental alterations weren't intended for display or decoration, the scientists contend. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060408/fob5.asp Sep 19 06, 1:14 PM

Brainyblonde

As early as 1819, an American dentist, Dr. Levi Spear Parmly, emphasized the importance of preventive oral health practices. By 1845, the public began to recognize the value of prevention and the dental profession was encouraged to focus more on preventive oral health care. Dr. Alfred C. Fones -the "father of dental hygiene" -recognized that teaching children appropriate oral health behaviors was an important key to the prevention of dental disease over a lifetime. Dr. Fones opened the first school of dental hygiene in 1913 at Connecticut, USA, almost 100 years after Dr. Parmly introduced "prevention" to the dental community. http://www.askadentalhygienist.com/hst/default.asp Sep 19 06, 6:29 PM