The earliest evidence of dental intervention

Note the enlargement of a root canal (pulp chamber) with a tool and filling with a residue containing bitumen, vegetable fibers, and hair.

The first evidence of the use of beeswax as restorative material

The Lonche jaw - Slovenia. A severyly decayed tooth was restored with beeswax using a retention box.

The Edwin Smith Papyrus

The Edwin Smith surgical papyrus was discovered in 1862. It contains 48 trauma cases, with 27 involving the head, including one on the correct mandibular manipulation for dislocation.

First prosthodontic devices

This is an Etruscan Ceremonial gold band to support missing upper incisors. It was found almost exclusively in young women of the upper class, most likely for ceremonial purposes. This Etruscan denture replaces two upper central incisors that were removed on purpose. It’s replacement symbolized status and was undertaken for ceremonial not prosthodontic purpose.

The first prosthodontic device to support loose teeth

Gold-wired supported loose teeth of both upper and lower incisors were found in graves in Egypt, Greece and Lebanon. The first device to stabilize loose teeth or replace missing ones. This Phoenician speciment was found in Sidon, current Lebanon, in 1860. At the time the speciment was at the Louvre Museum.

The first dentist whose name is preserved to us, Casellius

He was a dentists in the Roman Empireand was described by Martial, a Roman poet, who recorded the name of the first dentist in an Epigram: “Exemit aut reficit dentem Casellius aegrum” - “Cascellius extracts or repairs the aiching tooth.”

First impant

Tooth-shaped implants of three lower incisor teeth made of seashell (alloplasts) as a replacement used by the Mayan Civilization.

Hot-iron cauterization as a treatment for tooth decay

Abubakr al-Akhawayni al-Bokhari. Persian physician, in Hidayat al Mutallimin fi-al-Tibb (Learner’s Guide to Medicine). recommends, cauterization of the tooth with a hot iron and extraction only as a last resort for toothache. The round cylinder is a protective tube to avoid burning the cheecks.

First regulation for the practice of barber-surgeons

Regulation is instituted in France for Barbers to take an examination in front of Maitres de Metier (an expert) to call themselves barber-surgeons.

The first tooth drawer (touzdrawere), Peter de London

He is mentioned by name in the Worshipful Company of Barber’s documents. The Company was first recognized in 1308.

First lasting dental filling material - gold

Giovanni d’Arcoli, professor at the University of Bologna and Padua, describes gold foil to fill teeth.

Description of cleaning a decayed tooth before filling it

Giovanni da Vigo (1460-1520) of Rapallo, Italy, publishes Practica Copiosa in Arte Chirurgica, advocating cleaning of carious teeth before filling with gold foil.

First description of amalgam to restore teeth

The description appears in Praxis by Johannes Stockerius.

The first dental book

The German language book, Zene Artzney, was written for the itinerant dentist and layperson. It was published in Leipzig and had seen 13 editions.

The first book on oral hygiene

Walther Hermann Ryff (1500-1548), a German surgeon from Strasbourg, publishes Die grosse Chirurgie, which includes dental instruments for extraction. Ryff was the first to publish a book on oral hygiene. On the right, are instruments to be used to clean teeth of deposits, precursors of modern-day scaling instruments used by oral hygienists.

First study dedicated solely to the anatomy of the teeth

Bartolomeo Eustachio (1520-1574), Italian anatomist, surgeon, professor of anatomy in Rome was the author of the first study dedicated solely to the anatomy of the teeth: Libellus de Dentibus.

The first gold crown

Jacob Horst, German physician publishes his book, De Aureo Dente Maxillari Pueri Silesii - on the Silesian Boy with the Golden Tooth. It was an account of the first gold (swaged) crown made to deceive a superstitious audience rather than a replacement.

The oldest amalgam restoration

The restoration was found in the molar tooth of the 29-year-old Princess Anna Ursula of Brunswick and Luneburg after exhumation. She died unmarried. Her grave site is in Carlsheim, north of Munich. The painting depicts her at age 23.

Description of six dentifrices for tooth-whitening

Peter van Foreest (1521-1597) describes six dentifrices for tooth-whitening, maintenance of dental health, and against halitosis that contains cinnamon, menthe water, Arabic gum, and abrasive agents like pulverized bone, pumice, or salt, dissolved in rose water or white wine.

First description of microbes in saliva

Anthony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), Dutch amateur scientist, observes microscopic “animalcules”, for the first time in saliva and the oral cavity

The first comprehensive work on dentistry is published

Pierre Fauchard (1686-1761), French surgeon-dentist and the Father of Dentistry, publishes the first comprehensive work on dentistry, Le Chirurgiene Dentiste.

The first cast gold crown

Claude Mouton (?-1786), French, dentist to Louis XV, publishes Odontotechnique in which he describes the the gold crown for the first time as a prosthodontic device (calottes d’or).

The first practicing female dentist - in Paris, Marie Madeleine Calais

The first recorded female dentist was an apprentice for eight years to Claude Jacquier Geraudly, a Parisian dentist. A second female dentist, Mademoiselle Hervieux, also practiced near the City Hall in Paris. In 1759 both are listed in Jèze-Tableau de la ville de Paris, along with 33 other dentists practicing in the city.

Invention of the mineral paste, a precursor of modern porcelain used for esthetic crowns

Nicolas Dubois de Chemant (1753-1824), a Parisian dentist publishes his work on mineral paste, a precursor of modern porcelain used in prosthodontics.

The first foot operated dental drill

John Greenwood (1760-1810), favorite dentist of George Washington, created the first foot operated dental drill. He converted it from his mother's spinning wheel. The drill is housed at the New York Academy of Medicine Rare Book Library.

The first formal series of lectures on dentistry

The first lectures were delivered to medical students at Guy’s Hospital in London. Their teacher was a dentist named Joseph Fox.

First semi-transparent porcelain teeth

Giuseppangelo Fonzi improved on the porcelain teeth of Dubois de Chemant. In contrast to the latter, Fonzi had created individual semitransparent porcelain teeth, not a single block of denture base, and teeth all made of porcelain, thus gaining more esthetic results.

James Snell designs the reclining dental chair

The dental chair was first a comfortable feuteuil. James Snell was the first to add adjustable parts to it.

The Amalgam Wars

Edward Crawcour and his nephew, Moses, two dentists from London introduce in America the Royal Mineral Succedaneum (silver coin shavings and mercury, an early form of amalgam). Their success starts the The Amalgam Wars (1835-1850) with the ban of amalgam.

The first dental journal, American Journal of Dental Science is launched.

Nitrous oxide anesthesia is demonstrated in dentistry by Horace Wells

On December 11, 1844, Horace Wells (1815-1848), a Hartford, Connecticut dentist successfully demonstrated the use of nitrous oxide anesthesia in extracting a tooth painlessly.

American Dental Association is established

The ADA is launched with William Henry Atkinson (1815-1891) as its first president.

The first woman dentist in America

Lucy Hobbs Taylor of Ellenburg NY, graduates from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, OH.

First black dentists, Robert Tanner Freeman, George Franklin Grant

Freeman (image) and his classmate, George Franklin Grant, graduated in 1869 in one of the first dental classes at Harvard University School of Dentistry.

Foot pedal-operated dental drill is introduced

James Beall Morrison, an Ohio dentist, patented the foot-pedal operated dental drill.

The adjustable Wilkerson dental chair

The chair was operated by a hydraulic pump to elevate and lower the patient.

First Dental Assistant

Dental Assisting gets its start. Dr. C. Edmund Kells of New Orleans hires the first female dental assistant for chair-side duties in assisting him during treatment.

Willoughby Miller and the chemo-parasitic theory of caries

Miller, a Ph.D. student of Robert Koch at University of Berlin publishes his dissertation thesis on the chemo-parasitic theory of caries.

X-ray in dentistry

X-ray is used in clinical diagnosis in dentistry in Frankfurt. Image of radiograph taken in 1903 at New York College of Dentistry.

Edward Angle, and the first school of orthodontics

Edward Angle established The Angle School of Orthodontics in St. Louis.

First Dental Hygiene Program established by Alfred C. Fones

Alfred C Fones of Bridgeport, CT opens a training program for dental hygienists. It is the first dental hygiene school. Dr. Fones, coined the term “dental hygienist.”

Journal of Dental Research established.

Establishment of the Journal of Dental Research. William J Gies, the father of modern dental education and research.

Methacrylate is introduced as a denture base material.

Walter Bauer, a German chemist at Rohm and Haas Company in Darmstadt patents methacrylic esters as a new denture base material.

Water fluoridation is introduced

The first city to introduce water fluoridation in the US is Grand Rapids, Michigan. Fluoride acts as a preventive measure against tooth decay

Composite Resin as restorative material

Composite resins with bonding agents are introduced to dentistry. Started with the Swiss chemist, Hagger at the DeTrey/Amalgamated Dental Company with a dentin bonding agent, it was Michael Buonocore that established the field of acid etch technique for bonding to both dentin and enamel.

Cavitron

The ultrasonic device, Cavitron is introduced.

Saliva as a diagnostic tool

In the early 1960s, saliva was first mentioned as a diagnostic tool in papers authored by Columbia University’s Irwin Mandel.

Osseointegrated Implants

Per-Ingvar Brenemark introduces the osseointegration technique, the basis of successful implant placement.

CAD-CAM

Francois Duret from University of Southern California invented computer-aided design/computer-aided-manufacturing (CAD-CAM) technology for design of inlays. It will take two decades to become mainstream in crown design in dentistry

Digital radiography

Francois Mugnon, a French scientist introduced digital radiography to dentistry. He called it the Radio VisioGraphy (RVG) system.

Digital panoramic imaging

The first digital panoramic system in dentistry is introduced to the market by the French Signet company.

Lasers in dentistry

Erbium YAG laser is approved for dental use.

The first Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health is released.

3d printing in dentistry

3D printing is introduced for bone/bone-substitutes and to create scaffolds for periodontal tissue engineering, setting the stage for a new field, Oral Regenerative Science.