he world’s first journal focused on dentistry and tooth care, the American Journal of Dental Science, was published in 1839; seven years earlier, the London-based James Snell invented the first reclining chair specifically designed for dental work. Britain’s inaugural dental school opened in 1859, and the first electric dentist’s drill was patented in 1875 by American George F Green.
These and a host of other innovations in the 19th century – medical, scientific and technological – helped develop knowledge of modern dentistry and establish professionalism in the field. From the clinical environment to the (often dreaded) tools positioned around the chair, dentists’ offices began to resemble what we are used to today. The true roots of modern dentistry go back more than a century earlier, though.
“We tend to think dentistry has been around since, well, forever, but it hasn’t,” explains Dr Paul Craddock, cultural historian of medicine on an upcoming episode of the HistoryExtra podcast. “Dental care was traditionally limited to pulling teeth.” That is not to say there isn’t evidence of forms of tooth care going back to the civilisations of antiquity, and earlier into prehistory, from the Indus Valley c7000 BC to the Sumerians, Chinese, Etruscans and Egyptians. Indeed, the name most often claimed to be the earliest-known dentist was an Egyptian high official from the Third Dynasty called Hesy-Re.
Source: What are the roots of modern dentistry? / History Extra