“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker”
Branfield
More Blasts From The Past
Hello again, I
hope you are well and have settled into 2016 nicely. Hull City have. Four wins on the bounce and 6-0 against
Charlton. Great stuff.
Imaginative,
Creative and Ingenious
Last time I delved back in time a bit to see how the problem
of missing teeth was tackled way back when. We mainly looked at replacing
missing teeth with implantations of different sorts. Some were very
imaginative, creative and ingenious and sometimes a bit mad.
A
Bridge Too Far?
Dental bridges
are not new, not by a long way. There have been bridges discovered dating back
to the fourth or fifth century B.C. One such bridge was found in Sidon, chief
city of ancient Phoenicia. The Phoenicians were a people contemporary with the ancient
Egyptians and Hebrews and lived in what is now modern- day Lebanon.
The bridge had four natural human incisor teeth with two
carved ivory teeth between them. These ‘teeth’ were bound together with gold
wire.
The Etruscans
also were very adept in the art of dental prosthesis. Here again there have been dental findings
dating back to 500 B.C. Soft gold bands where fitted around natural teeth. The
false teeth were fastened to the bands with rivets. The false teeth (pontics to
use the dental jargon) were made up of human teeth with the roots cut off or
more often oxen teeth. In some cases a groove would be made down the middle of
a wide ox’s tooth to make it look like two teeth. Absolutely ingenious.
These
guys must have had some time on their hands, not like the 100 miles an hour of
21st century living, eh?
Elephant,
Hippopotamus Or Walrus, The Choice Is Yours
Over the years dentures have been
made out of different materials including ivory, gold, stainless steel,
cobalt-chromium, vulcanised rubber and acrylic. The teeth on the denture made
from ivory, natural teeth, porcelain and acrylic. The ivory that was meticulously
carved came from different sources. Namely elephant, hippopotamus or walrus.
Each type of ivory had its own characteristics in terms of grain and texture.
There is evidence of ivory being used for dentures as far back as Roman times.
Would
You Like Springs With That Sir?
One
famous denture wearer was the American President George Washington. He was
plagued by toothache and abscesses for many years and only had one tooth left
by the time of his inauguration. (He
doesn’t look a happy chap). He had
several dentures made by the best people of the time and had them made from the
whole range of materials available. His last set was made by John Greenwood.
The upper palate was swaged from a sheet of gold and had ivory teeth riveted to
it. The lower denture was carved from a single block of ivory.
The
two dentures were fastened together by a steel spring! I bet that took some
getting used to. I also bet that you can’t get them on the NHS. How much do you
think that would cost now?
So there you go, another little
jaunt back in time to dental practice of bygone eras.
Conference Time Again
We are off to a patient care conference this week. It’s the first time in 4 years that I won’t
be a speaker…..and relax.
Until next time.
Take care and be good.
Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park
Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550. He has been in dental practice for 23 years
and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental
implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that
Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the
daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’s
charity work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk
