“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield
A Bridge Too Far
Hello again, I hope you are well. Another very busy month here. Not much in the way of courses and talking
but head down changing lives. The laser,
non- surgical snoring therapy is absolutely Wowing people as it is proving to
be so effective. I love it. I got a lovely thank you card the other day
from a kind lady who had dental implants to say how food had never tasted so
good as she was now able to eat everything she wanted. This is the best thing about the job.
Bridging The Gap
Dental Bridges are one fixed solution to replacing missing
teeth. Modern bridges usually involve some grinding down of a tooth either side
of the gap. To a very large degree they are superseded by dental implants as
these do not involve tooth grinding, so have less problems in general.
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 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, a little jaunt back in time to dental
practice of bygone eras.
Until next time.
Take care and be good. Here’s to
making a difference.
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 26 years
and has a special interest in Life Changing, Pain Free Dentistry with Dental
Implants, 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’ Humanitarian work go here now
www.castleparkdental.co.uk
