A Timeline of the History of Dentistry

How to cite this paper: Spielman, AI. A Timeline of the History of Dentistry. In: Illustrated Encyclopedia of the History of Dentistry, 2023. https://historyofdentistryandmedicine.com/

Figure. Historical stages of dentistry.

Dentistry, in its historical evolution, initially centered around extraction-based practices as the oldest form. The shift towards restoration-and-replacement-based dentistry marked a significant development, notably initiated by Pierre Fauchard in 1728. The introduction of fluoride heralded a new era with the advent of prevention-based dentistry. Moving forward, the 1960s witnessed the emergence of diagnostics-based dentistry, characterized by the recognition of saliva as a crucial diagnostic fluid. The contemporary phase of dentistry is currently unfolding, emphasizing the manipulation of the microbiome and advancements in oral tissue regeneration. Throughout the millennia, dentistry has undergone a transformative journey, progressing from a primarily mechanical approach to embracing chemical, biological, and now molecular dimensions. Concurrently, the dental profession has evolved to provide not only generalized and specialized care but has recently extended its scope to encompass personalized care.

Years	History of Medicine/History of Science	History of Dentistry
3 million years BCE		Earliest evidence of juvenile periodontitis in a skull of Australopithecus africanus child.
12000 BCE		Earliest evidence of manipulation of teeth to reduce retentiveness occlusal surface using pointed flint tools – Villabruna, Italy (Oxilia et al., 2015 – Scientific Reports, 5: 12150).
11000 BCE		The earliest signs of necrotic tissue removal and restoration with bitumen, Riparo Fredian, Tuscany, Italy. (Oxilia 2017)
7000 BCE		Evidence of earliest dental drilling using a stone flint, Pakistan graveyard. (Coppa 2006)
4500 BCE		The first evidence of use of beeswax as restorative material – The Lonche jaw – Slovenia. (Bernardini 2012)
3300 BCE		Low caries rate (7%) found in Oetzy, the Ice man — the Alps, near Bolzano, Italy. (Seiler 2013)
2686 B.C.E		Hesy-Ra – the first dentist recorded in history during the 3d Egyptian dynasty under the pharaoh Djoser. He was named Weribeh-senjw or the great dentist. Djoser’s chief architect, vizier and physician, Imhotep is credited with the building of the step-pyramids. Centuries later he had god-like followers like Asclepius in Greece. (Hoffman-Axthelm, Walter, 1981)
1800 BCE		The Legend of the  tooth wormas the source of toothache, Mesopotamia. (Sudhoff 1926)
c.1800 BCE		Henry Layard, a British archeologist uncovers 660 tablets with cuneiform writing at Nineveh in 1847 CE They are from the time of Enlil-Bani, King of Isinth (1798-1775 BCE) containing medical recipes. The tablets describe the use of toothpicks and contain curative incantations for diseases of the mouth, teeth, halitosis and salivation.
1755 BCE		The Code of Hammurabi, the earliest known sets of laws, 282 in total. Discovered in Susa in 1902, it including the law that is commonly known as “a tooth for a tooth” (Code Nr. 200).
1600 BCE		Edwin Smith Papyrus – a surgical papyrus discovered in 1862. It contains 48 trauma cases, including 27 involving the head. Case 25 describes the correct mandibular manipulation for dislocation, a procedure we still use. (Sanchez and Meltzer 2012)
1550 BCE		Ebers Papyrus, herbal medicine and treatment for a variety of ailments including dental problems found in 1862 in a tomb along with the Edwin Smith Papyrus but sold to Professor Georg Ebers in Leipzig. It contains ancient prescriptions and medical management of various diseases. (Leek, Filce 1967).
668 BCE		Cuneiform tablet from the period of King Ashurbanipal describes dental diagnoses.
630 BCE		Etruscan gold bands to support missing/avulsed upper incisor(s), almost exclusively in women,most likely for ceremonial purposes. (Marshall J Becker,, 1995; Becker and Turfa Jean Macintosh 2017).
460-368 BCE	Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine develops the humoral theory of disease, sets the stage for the Corpus Hippocraticus a massive set of treatise most likely written by many authors over centuries. One legacy of that “Corpus” is the Hippocratic Oath.
384-322 BCE	Aristotle, one of the most influential thinker, philosopher, scholar of ancient Greece, student of Plato and later teacher of Alexander the Great. Followed Plato to his Academy where he taught after Plato’s death. He founded his own school, the Lyceum. Aristotle had common sense observations about teeth, periodontium and their preservation.
300 BCE	The Medical School of Alexandria flourishes (Longrigg, James, 1988). The physicians Herophilus and Erasistratos, were two of its preeminent representatives. They practiced cadaver dissections to advance knowledge of human anatomy.
3-4c BCE		Gold-wired supported loose teeth of upper and lower incisors, found in graves in Egypt and Greece. These devices constitute likely the first prosthodontic devices, unlike Etruscan gold bands which were likely ceremonial in nature.
25 BCE- 50 CE	Aulus Cornelius Celsus – Roman physician, author of De Re Medicina in which he describes the four cardinal signs of inflammation: tumor, rubor, calor, dolor. (Celsus). It was Celsus’ work that was among the very first that were printed soon after the movable printing press was introduced by Gutenberg in 1450.
23-79 CE		Gaius Plinius Secundus – Pliny the Elder – Roman Senator, military commander, philosopher, naturalist — recommends washing one’s mouth every morning with fresh water. He authored an encyclopædia, Naturalis Historia. He died in 79 CE during the eruption of the Vesuvius.
40-90 CE	Pedanus Dioscorides of Anazarbus, Greek physician, botanist, surgeon during the reign of emperor Nero. He was the author of De Materia Medica a 5-volume treatise on herbal medicine, describing some 600 plants drugs, many of which were original. It was among the very first printed in Latin after the printing press was introduced. His Compendium contains  a large number of painkillers including opium, mandragora and hyoscyamine. (ref Prinz 1915, Dioscorides 1557).
50 CE	Scribonius Largus (1 CE?-50 CE?) personal physician to Emperor Claudius compiles a list of herbal medicine. De Compositione Medicamentorum Liber includes a section for dental pain that contains potentilla (cinquefoils) extraction mixed with wine.	Cinquefoils has astringent, anti-hemorrhagic, anti-ulcer and analgesic effects. Scribonius recommends henbane fumigation against the tooth-worm. (Scribonius, 1526, p 40).
80 CE		Caselius of Rome – First dentist whose name is preserved to us from the Roman Empire
100 CE		Extraction forceps were found in Greek and Roman graves. Forged by blacksmith they were used for simple extractions. These instruments were used in the Alexandria School two centuries before. Celsus, Galen and Paré, all describe the instrument.
130 CE- 200 CE	Galenos (Galen) of Pergamon, Greek physician serving several Roman emperors, one of the giants of the Ancient World. Left behind 400 works and dominated medical thought into the Renaissance.
249 CE		St. Apollonia is tortured on February 9, 249 CE by a rioting mob in Alexandria, Egypt, extracting her teeth before burning her on a stake. Appolonia was the daughter of the Roman Magistrate. She was canonized in 300 as the patron saint of those with a toothache. February 9 is St. Appolonia Day in many Western European countries (Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal).
400  CE		The Bower Manuscript, an ancient Indian medical text found in1890 in an old stupa in Kaschgar, Central Asia by Lieutenant H. Bower, inscribed on birch bark identifies among others, prescriptions for dental and oral care. (Hoernle 1897)
500 CE		Caelius Aurelianus, a Roman physician and author of De morbis acutis et chronicis, a book on acute and chronic diseasehas a dedicated chapter of handling toothache.
600 CE		Alloplasts (implants of tooth-shaped shell as a replacement for teeth) used by the Mayan Civilization.
659 CE		Amalgam is mentioned for the first time Su Kung’s Materia Medica. It resurfaces again in several Chinese publications over the next centuries including The Essentials of Materia Medica, 1505 in which its composition is also displayed: 100 parts mercury, 45 parts silver and 900 parts tin. (Chu 1958, Hoffman Walter-Axthelm, 1981).
865 – 925	Rhazes, (Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi), Persian erudite, philosopher, polymath, physician. His 23-volume Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb (Hawi) is considered to form the foundations of obstetrics, gynecology and ocular surgery. A section on tooth preservation includes a mixture for a brightening dentifrice that includes birthwort, ocean crab, mussel ashes, soda borax, salt burnt with honey, juniper incense, pumice, glass, burnt thyme and mugwort Hoffman Walter-Axthelm, 1981, 92).
983		Abubakr al-Akhawayni al-Bokhari (?- 983). Persian physician, author of the work Hidayat al Mutallimin fi-al-Tibb (Learner’s Guide to Medicine). In it, for toothache al Bokhari recommends cauterization of the tooth with a hot iron and extraction only as a last resort (Khodadoust, 2013).
1000?	Albucasis (Abu al-Qasim, Al-Zahravi, 936 – 1013) Arab physician, polymath, surgeon from Al-Andalus. His main work Kitab al-Tsarif is a 30-volume encyclopædia on everything medical was most likely finished in 1000. He is considered the greatest Arabic surgeon of the early medieval time.
1025	Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 981 – 1037), Second Galen, physician, poet, philosopher – wrote Canon Medicinæ, a 5 volume work on health, including oral health and published in 1025.
1088	University of Bologna is founded.  One of the earliest medieval universities to restart anatomical dissections in the 16th century.
1092		The Pope Cyril II of Alexandria introduces new grooming style for monks and invites barbers to perform the hair cutting. He also declares: ecclesia abhorred a sanguine: (the church abhors bleeding) and invites barbers to perform any procedure involving blood, thus opening the door for barbers to perform surgical procedures.
1150	University of Paris is established. It is the second oldest university in Europe after Bologna. The university functioned along the cathedral school of the Notre Dame of Paris.
1163		The Council of Tours reinforces earlier declaration of Pope Cyril II that surgery and shedding of blood are incompatible with the holy office of the clergy. It marks the formal separation of medicine (practiced by priests) and surgery (barber-surgeons).
1215		The IVth Lateran Council officially forbids the practice of surgery or shedding of blood by subdeacons and priests at clerical scholastic universities. Priests dominated all aspects of medicine. This decree restricts all blood shedding to barbers and barber-surgeons, separating them from physicians. ((Hoffman-Axthelm, p 115).
1215	Magna Carta -signed between the English Nobility and King John (Lackland). He used tooth extraction as a punishment to get money.
1221	Decree by Frederick II (1194-1250), the Holy Roman emperor, to institute mandatory examinations at University of Salerno for medical professionals for legally practicing throughout the empire. The law stipulated a three year study of logic, philosophy and literature and five years of medicine and surgery. The ceremony following the examination involved taking the Oath of Hippocrates, placement of a ring on the finger and conferral of the title Magister Medicinæ.
1242	Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288), described the pulmonary circulation in Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb (The comprehensive book on medicine), published in 1242, but his discovery remained unacknowledged for centuries for his discovery attributing mistakenly to Michael Servetus of Spain.
1301		Regulation is instituted in France for Barbers to take an examination in front of Maitres de Metier (an expert) to call themselves barber-surgeons (Walter Hoffman-Axthelm, p.128)
1308		The Worshipful Company of Barber is established in England. The Fellowship of Surgeons and the Company of Barbers merged in 1540 and in 1745 King George II split the guild again into two separate Companies for the barbers and surgeons.
1311	The College of St Côme is founded by the French King Philippe the Fair (1285-1314). Named after the the patron saint of medicine Saint Cosmas, the full name is Collège or Confrérie de Saint Côme.	Established for the benefit of surgeons of the long robe, distinguishing themselves from the lowly barbers or surgeons of the short robe. (Plinio Prioreschi, History of Medicine: Medieval Medicine p. 430.)
1316	Mondino dei Luzzi (Mundinus, 1270-1326), Italian anatomist and professor of surgery at the University of Bologna. One of the first to perform dissections on human cadavers during the early Renaissance for teaching purposes. His major work that survives today is Anatomia corporis humani written in 1316.
1320		Peter de London. The first tooth-drawer (touzdrawere) is mentioned after the barbers’ guild is formed in 1308 in London.
1363	Guy de Chauliac (1300-1368), the most important French surgeon for the XIV century, personal physician to three Popes while the papacy was in Avignon. Active in Montpellier. His major work, Chirurgia Magna, published in 1363 in Avignon was the standard text for 200 years.	He is credited for describing the pelican, called a hoop cramp as an instrument to extract teeth. (Walter Hoffman-Axthelm, p. 129).
1368	The Fellowship of Surgeons is established in England
1450	Gutenberg introduces the movable type printing press in Germany.
1460	Johannes de Ketham (Johannes von Kirchheim), German anatomist. His book Fasciculus Medicinæ (1491) is  one of the first medieval medical texts with illustrations revealing anatomy teaching methods in the 15th century.
1462		The Company of Barbers is established in England
1483		Giovanni d’Arcoli (Ioannes Arculanus), professor at University of Bologna and Padua. First to mention the use of gold foil to fill teeth in his 1483 work, Practica. (reference, 1560 edition of Arculanus, Practica).
1489	Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), completes his anatomical drawings, including a detailed depiction of the scull, teeth and maxillary sinus, almost 162 years prior to Nathaniel Highmore (1651), a British surgeon previously attributed for its description.
1505		Barber Surgeons  (Surgeons of the Short-robe) are admitted to University of Paris, dominated by Physicians and Surgeons of the long-robe. Barber -surgeons were allowed to place leeches and perform bleeding and amputations.
1514		Giovanni da Vigo (1460-1520) of Rapallo, Italy, personal physician to Pope Julius II publishes Practica Copiosa in Arte Chirurgica, advocating cleaning of carious teeth before filling with gold foil, a technique first described by Giovanni Arcolani in 1484. (reference Vigo 1561).
1525-?	Juan Valverde de Amusco, Spanish anatomist, student of Realdo Colombo and Bartolomeo Eustachio. His anatomy book Historia de la composition del cuerpo humano was considered lifted in large measure from Vesalius’ Fabrica.
1528		First description of amalgam to restore teeth in a prescription of Johannes Stockerius (1453-1513) in the Xlyffer Manuscript (reference Hoffman-Axthelm p. 156). The treatment appears posthumously in Stockerius’ work Praxis (1601) (Stockerius – Dornkrellius 1601). Fac canalem de auro fino, et per canalem cauterizetur dens cum alio aureo usque ad mortificationem radicis dentis, postea imple foramen cum Amalgama, facta ex Vitriolo et Mercurio ita ut sequitur. Rx. vitrioli, et dissolve cum aceto forti in patella, adde Mercuri quantum uis. Deinde decoquatur, et convertetur Mercurius in Amalgama, et illud Amalgama pone in foramen dentis, et durescit sicut lapis, et valet in omni foramine (Make a tube from fine gold; and the tooth should cauterized through this with another gold (instrument) until the root is deadened; thereafter fill the hole with an amalgam compounded from vitriol and mercury as follows: dissolve vitriol with a strong acid in a bowl, and add sufficient amount of mercury to it. Then it should be boiled, and the mercury will transform itself into an amalgam; put this amalgam into the hole of the tooth, and it will become as hard as stone and remain firmly in any hole. (Transl. Hoffman-Axthelm, p. 157).
1530		Zene Artzney, the first dental book written anonymously is published in Leipzig. The book was written in German and meant for itinerant dentists. Proved so popular that 11 editions were issued over the next 26 years.
1530	Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553), Italian Renaissance man, physician, poet, astronomer. Published the first account of syphilis 1530. His work, Syphilis, sive morbus gallicus coined the name for the disease.
1536	Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541), Swiss alchemist, physician, astrologer, father of toxicology. His main work was published in 1536, Der grossen Wundartzney (Great Surgery Book).
1536	Johannes Dryander (1500-1560) (Johann Eichmann or Eychmann), Anatomist, Professor of Medicine in Marburg, author of Anatomia capitis humanis (Anatomy of the head) 1536.
1540		Four public dissections a year are licensed in England starting in 1540.
1540		By an Act of the British Parliament under the rule of Henry VIII, The Fellowship of Surgeons and the Company of Barbers merge. Following the act, there was a law regulating the practice of surgery in England.
1543	Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), Belgian Anatomist publishes one of the most complete and artistically elegant atlas of anatomy in history: De Humanis Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem “Fabrica”). Vesalius revolutionized anatomy with a beautifully illustrated and well research atlas-text. He overturned the dogma dominating science for the previous 1350 years through the teachings of Galen of Pergamon. His new book and methods revolutionized medical school education of anatomy using cadavers.
1543	Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566), German physician and botanist publishes a seminal book on the medicinal value of plants (1543). It set the stage for the rise of herbal medicine. The botanical genus of fuchsia is named after him.
1548		Walter Hermann Ryff (1500-1548) German surgeon from Strasbourg, publishes Major Surgery Die grosse Chirurgie, a text that includes dental instruments for extraction. His illustrations were plagiarized from several contemporary works. Ryff was the first to publish a book on oral hygiene (~1548). (How to keep you mouth and teeth clean, fresh… Nützlicher Bericht, […] Wie man den Mundt, die Zän und Biller frisch, rein, sauber, gesund, starck und fest erhalten soll).
1550		Victorius Leonellus Faventinus (Benedictus) (? – 1520) suggests opening the dental pulp and placing nitric acid to necrotize the nerve.  (In Viri in Arte Medica Excellentissimi, Opera, page 46, 1550), …si dens dolens esser perforatus, impleatur foramen cum sequenti mixtura: Rx/ Theriacæ unc.s. pyrethri, nigellae ana drach.s. aquæ vitæ drach.i. misce, et impleatur foramen dentis. “If case of pain perforate the tooth and fill the opening with the following mixture: Theriac, half ounce, chrysanthemum, fennel flower, each, 2 gr., nitric acid ½ a teaspoon, mix and place it into the opening of the tooth.” Based on the composition, the nitric acid would have killed the pulp and remove the pain. This description is the first treatment for inflamed dental pulp. That same method is published again in 1623 by Peter Forrest (1521-1597). In case of extreme pain:  opening of the tooth in question using a sharp stylus and placement into the pulp a mixture of theriac.
1553	Michael Servetus (Miguel Servet, 1511-1553), Spanish physician, theologian and humanist is burnt at the stake, the same year his Christianismi Restitutio, a work for protestant reformation is published and burnt at the stake along with the author. In it Servetus describes the pulmonary circulation accidentally found while dissecting to find the anatomical location of the soul. All copies to the Restitutio Christianismi have been lost save three (Paris, Vienna and Edinburgh).
1555	Jacobus Sylvius (Jacques Dubois, 1478-1555), French anatomist at University of Paris, one of the teachers of Andreas Vesalius and ferocious defender of Galenic teaching posthumously publishes In Hippocratis et Galeni physiologiae partem anatomicam isagoge. His name is associated with the aqueduct of Sylvius in the brain. His dispute with Vesalius and other innovators took the form of extended polemic publications.
1557		Francisco Martinez, a Spanish physician publishes in Qoloqio breve y compendiosa, sobre la materia de la dentadura, y maravillosa obra de la boca, one of the earliest works on dentistry.
1557		First obturator for palatal defect is described in Handtbüchlein – a 1557 work of Franz Renner. The obturator was made of several layers of leather, although he identifies ivory and gold as alternative. A few years later, Amatus Lusitanus and Ambroise Pare (see further), both describe obturators made of gold (ref. Renner, 1557).
1559	Realdo Colombo (1516-1559), Italian anatomist and surgeon at University of Padua. He was successor to Andreas Vesalius as Professor of Anatomy and correctly described in De re Anatomica (1559, p. 177) the pulmonary vein as containing blood and not air. Worked with Michelangelo on an anatomical atlas.
1560		Amatus Lusitanus (1510/11-1568), a Portuguese physician publishes the first palatal obturator, made of gold, one year before Ambroise Paré, who is usually credited with the invention.
1562	Gabriele Falloppio (1523-1562), Italian anatomist and physician, Professor at University of Padua, successor of Vesalius, publishes Observationes anatomicae, in which contradicts Vesalius about the nature of the permanent teeth. Vesalius thought they arise from the roots of the deciduous teeth.	Major contributor to understanding the anatomy of the middle and internal ear and discoverer of the aqueducts Fallopii of the facial nerve and of the fallopian tubes Falloppio posits that the tooth germs for permanent teeth are independent. (Fallopio, 1562, p. 65). He coined the term pelican for the specialized forceps used to extract teeth (Hoffman-Axthelm, p 142).
1563		Bartolomeo Eustachio (1520-1574), Italian anatomist, surgeon professor of anatomy in Rome and author of the first study dedicated solely to the anatomy of the teeth: Libellus de Dentibus. The same year the study is also included in Eustachio’s larger work: Opuscula Anatomica. Eustachio also describes the tube, that bears his name, that connects the pharynx to the middle ear. He distinguishes enamel and dentin as two separate layers, just like trees consist of the bark and the part covered by the bark (Sed redeo ad dentes, qui tametsi sunt ut intra pluribus explicabo, exs duplici substantia, ueluti arbores ex cortice, et ex ea, quæ cortice tegitur)  Libellus de Dentibus, 1563, p 4)
1575		Ambroise Paré (1509-1590), one of the greatest surgeons of the Renaissance. A practicing (dentist) barber-surgeon, he designed new surgical instruments, extraction tools, gentle wound healing and arterial ligation techniques. His compiled life-work entitled Oeuvres (Works) published in 1575, is a classic. He suggests that partial edentulism be replaced with a small carved block of teeth made of ivory, hippopotamus, walrus bone or narwal tusk and be attached to neighboring abutment with a gold wire or thread. Nevertheless, Pare still believed in the “toothworm” (Et pour faire mourire les vers, faut appliquer choses caustique, ausi pyrethre destrampe en vinaigre, ou theriaque dissout en mesme liqueur: seront aussi appliquez ails, ou oignons, ou un d’aloe – And to kill the worms apply something caustic, hot, dissolved in vinegar or theriac dissolved in the same, or apply garlic, onion or aloe). p, 612, 1652 Ouevres Ambroise Pare).
1585- 1629	Caspar Bartholin (the Elder), Danish anatomist, described the working of the olfactory nerve.
1582		Urbain Hemard publishes his study on teeth, the first French publication devoted entirely to teeth (Recherché de la vraye anatomie des dents). The book contains some personal experiences but in general borrowed heavily from Eustachio’s Libellus de Dentibus  published less than two decades prior.
1584	Laurent Joubert (1529-1583), French Physician from Montpellier. Translated and annotated the work of Guy de Chauliac (Annotations de M Laurent Joubert sur toute la Chirurgie de M. Guy de Chauliac), the giant of 14th century French surgery, a textbook that influenced surgical thinking for 200 years.
1593		Jacob Horst, German physician publishes his book, De Aureo Dente Maxillari Pueri Silesii – on the Silesian Boy with the Golden Tooth, the product of a “miracle” of star alignments that turned bone (tooth) into gold. In fact it was the first gold (swaged) crown made to deceive a gullible and superstitious audience.
1598		Jacques Guillemeau, French surgeon describes the dental mirror (speculum oris). (p. 502-503, Speculum oris et matricis, item A/B). It is a flat shiny metal surface that served both as a retractor and as a reflector of image.
1599	Andre du Laurens (Andreae Delaurentis 1558-1609), French physician and anatomist. His beautifully illustrated anatomy atlas, Historia anatomica humani corporis  is published. Although many of the illustrations were similar or identical to Vesalius’ Fabrica, the book is a success.
1600		Itinerant tooth drawers are called zahnbrecker in Germany, arracher des dents in France, cavadenti in Italy and operators for the teeth in England.
1601		Oldest amalgam restoration found in the molar of Princess Anna Ursula of Brunswick and Luneburg, at a grave site in Carlsheim, north of Munich. (Czarnetzki & Ehrhardt 1990)
1603	Hieronymus Fabricius (ab Aquapendente, 1533-1619), Professor of Anatomy in Padua, and teacher of William Harvey, describes venous valves in De Venarum Osteolis, but fails to understand its significance in blood circulation.  (Aquapendente, 1603). The book influenced Harvey to describe the blood circulation in 1628 in his famous work, De Motu Cordis.
1606		Peter van Foreest (1521-1597) describes six dentifrices for tooth-whitening, maintenance of dental health and against halitosis, that contain cinnamon, menthe water, arabic gum and abrasive agents like pulverized bone, pumice, or salt, dissolved in rose water or white wine. He warns about the dangers of mercury (argentum vivum) on teeth (used for the treatment of syphilis). (Ref. Peter Foreest – Observationum et curationum, 1606, p 216).
1609		Johann Heurnius (Johannes, or Jan van Heurne, 1543-1601), Dutch professor of medicine at University of Leiden, suggests the use of sulphuric oil  (oleum sulphuris) to destroy the dental pulp and to reduce the roughness and sharp edges on teeth (ref. Ioannis Heurni De morbus dentium et oris, In; Opera Omnia, Ex Officina Palatiana 1609. p. 61)
1612		Jacques Guillemeau, French dentist suggests using a primitive form of mineral paste for artificial teeth. His suggestion is to include mastic and powdered white coral (Guillemeau, 1612, page 502-503).
1628	William Harvey (1578-1657), physician, graduate of University of Padua, described the circulation of blood (De Motu Cordis, 1628), based on Fabricius’ discovery of venous valves.
1632		Hartmann, Johannes (1568-1631), professor of Marburg, publishes in 1632 a text, Praxis chymiatrica, in which he describes the use of a mixture of clove oil and camphor oil droplets placed on a cotton ball and inserted into the tooth with severe pain. It is probably the first description of the use of this mixture in case of severe decay/dental pain. Published in Geneva by Leonardo Chouet, 1632, p. 138.
1634		James Mill of New York, the first recorded colonial dentist in America
1640		Lazare Rivière (1595-1655), French anatomist, professor of Medicine at Montpellier publishes in 1640 a 6 volume Praxis Medica cum Theoria – recommends clove and camphor oil for toothache. (The literature indicates him as a priority, yet Hartmann already published it in 1632, and probably earlier). He still recommends instilling almond oil into the ear of the affected side.
1646	Marcus Aurelius Severinus describes the use of ice on cold-induced analgesia. (Ref. De Efficaci Medicina, 1646).
1655	Armamentarium chirurgicum is published. It’s author is Johannes Scultetus (Johann Schultes, 1595-1645), German surgeon from the city of Ulm and one of the greatest of the 17th century innovator of techniques and instruments. The book was edited and posthumously published by his son, also a surgeon.
1656	Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), British architect, scientist and physician uses intravenous anesthesia for the first time. He and Robert Boyle, the chemist used wine and ale, injected into the vein of a large dog with a syringe made of animal bladder, attached to a goose quill as needle. The dogs became drunk. (Ref. Jardine).
1660	Niels Stensen (Nicolaus Stenonius, (1638-1686), Danish anatomist, geologian and catholic bishop describes the duct of the parotid gland which later on bears his name,  the Stensen or Stenon duct.
1661	Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), Italian anatomist, microscopist, the father of histology. Discovered the pulmonary capillaries, the missing link to understand blood circulation described 40 years earlier by Harvey. He describes his discovery in a letter entitled “De Pulmonibus”  to Alphonse Borelli, a professor at University of Pisa.
1664	Thomas Willis (1621-1675), English anatomist, neurologist. Numbered the cranial nerves and described branches of the basilar (cerebral) arteries in his 1664 text, Cerebri anatomae.
1667	Johann Sigismund Elsholtz, a physician in Berlin describes intravenous injection with a syringe, and reports the feasibility of blood transfusion from animals to humans. That same year, Jean Baptist Denys, the court physician to Louis XIV, performs transfusions, from animals (calf, sheep) to humans in the hope to confer calm behavior to the recipients. The theory of “vitalism” purported that blood carried personal characteristics from a meek animal to a human.
1669		Louis XIV of France appoints an Operator for the Teeth to his court, the first to recognize a dentists as a specialist for teeth.
1672	Franciscus Sylvius (Franz LaBoe, 1614-1672), German-Dutch physician, scientist. Founder of the iatrochemical school of medicine that treated all diseases chemically. He advocated bedside medicine in his 1672 work Idea praxeos medicae
1676	Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689), the English Hippocrates, one of the most famous physicians of the 17th century England. He described the Sydenham’s chorea, a neurological disorder (as we know now) due to Streptococcal infection. His main work Observationes Mediciæ published in 1676 was one of the standard medical texts for the next two centuries.
1677	Caspar Bartholin the Younger (1655-1738), Danish anatomist, grandson of Caspar Bartholin the Elder, described the major sublingual duct of Bartholin’s.
1683	Anthony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), Dutch amateur scientist, (draper and part-time janitor in Delft) observes microscopic “animalcules”, microbes, for the first time. After submitting 375 scientific observations/letters to the Royal Society of London and his observations are verified, he becomes the only non-scientist member of the Society.	His invention of the microscope and meticulous and systematic evaluation of all body fluids, oral cavity and dental tissues slowly but surely set in motion a revolution in science. In 1683, for the first time he observed microorganisms in the oral cavity.
1685		Charles Allen, an English barber-surgeon publishes the first in English-language book on dentistry, The Operator for the Teeth. The book was first published in York, a year later in Dublin and in 1687 in London. In it, Allen describes dental transplants.
1685		Duke Frederick William of Brandenburg, The Great Elector, issued an edict in 1685 mandating that all dentists sit for an exam before a commission in order to demonstrate their knowledge. The outline of the decision were in preparation since 1661. (Hoffman-Axthelm p. 195)
1686	Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), develops a low melting metal alloy containing 8 parts bismuth: 5 parts lead: and 3 parts tin.	This was the starting point for the porcelain manufacturer, Jean dArcet (1775) to create a bismuth:lead:tin mixture which, became the raw material for Regnart’s amalgam (1818).
1691		Frederich Ruysch (1638-1731), Ruysch, Frederich. in Observationum anatomico-chirurgicum, centuria – establishes the relationship between tartar and periodontal disease. (ref. p. 104)
1699		Louis XIV, the Sun King issues the Edict of May, on May 11, 1699 in which he created a subdivision of surgery for dental surgeons (chirurgien dentiste). This initiated a special two-year training requirement for dental surgeons along a surgeon, subject to a licensing examination by surgeons prior to practice. Upon graduation they became part of the College de St. Côme.
1700		Between 1600 and 1800, Pont Neuf, a main bridge in the heart of Paris was the site of charlatans and tooth-drawers to sell “miracle tooth products” and perform extractions in public.
1704	Antonio Valsalva (1666-1723), Italian  anatomist, studied the middle ear, coined the Eustachian tubes in honor or Bartholomeo Eustachio and developed the Valsalva maneuver to unplug the Eustachian tubes when changing atmospheric pressure in his study De aure humana tractatus published first in 1704.
1711		Matthäus Gottfried Purmann, german surgeon uses a wax model in dentistry for replacing missing teeth.
1713		Frederick William I, King of Prussia issues a medical edict that includes dentists (Zahn Äertzte, Physicians of the teeth) among professions like physicians, apothecaries, tooth drawers that were subject to an examination prior to opening a practice. This edict was strengthened and reissued in 1725 (Hoffmann-Axthelm, p. 195 and Medicinal-edict, 1725).
1721		All dentists in Russia had to take an examination in front of the Medical Chancellery
1727		Rene Jacques Croissant de Garangeot (1688-1759), French surgeon, publishes an important book on surgical instruments: Nouveau traité des instrumens de chirurgie les plus utiles et de plusieurs nouvelles machines propres pour les maladies des os. (two volumes). The second volume has a series of dental instruments including elevators named after him, Le Clef de Garengeot. The instruments include for the first time the probe to detect cavities (sonde) and lancets to remove decayed structures.
1728		Pierre Fauchard (1686-1761), French surgeon-dentist, assembled the first comprehensive work on dentistry and published it in 1728 under the title Le Chirurgiene Dentiste. Fauchard is considered the Father of modern dentistry. Compiled in two volume he assembled all that was known about the dental field, the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the teeth and surrounding structures and listed the instruments and procedures at the time. His work had 19 recommendations from contemporary physicians, scientists and dentists, a record for its time.
1731	Lorenz Heister (1683-1758), German anatomist and surgeon publishes Chirurgie, an important work translated into several languages and had seen 15 editions.
1733		Pierre Fauchard’s Le Chirurgien Dentist, a seminal work in the history of the dental profession is translated into German within 5 years after its first publication. The book entitled Zahn-Ärzt oder Tractat von den Zähnen, was translated by Georg Matthiae who spent two years in Paris.
1743	Members of the Order of St. Côme are prohibited from engaging in the trade of the barbers
1743		Robert Bunon (1702-1748), French dentist, the father of Oral Hygiene and prevention published Essay sur les Maladies des Dents, the first oral hygiene text.
1745	King George II of  Great Britain splits the Guild of Surgeons into separate companies of Barbers and Surgeons. In 1800, the latter forms the Royal College of Surgeons
1746		Claude Mouton (?-1786), French, dentist to Louis XV, publishes his seminal book on odontotechnique in which he describes the first gold crown  (calottes d’or, p. 137) to restore a decayed tooth. He is the first to use clasps and bracelets instead of threads or wires for attachment of partial dentures to neighboring abutments. He describes the Dowel crown ( “dent a tenon”, p. 85, 1746).
1752	Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777), Swiss anatomist, physiologist, the father of modern physiology. One of the giants of the 18th century. Published several 8-volume treaties on physiology. In 1752 he published De partibus corporis humani sensibilibus et irritabilibus,  in which he makes the distinction between sensibility (sensitivity to touch) and irritability (being able to respond with contraction).
1753- 1818		Benjamin Fendall, the first native-born American dentist.
1754		Henry de Lécluse publishes an important work, Nouveaux elemens d’odontologie, describing a surgical elevator that bears his name.
1756		Philipp Pfaff (1713-1766), Royal Prussian court dentist to the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, published Abhandlung von den Zahnen des menschlichen Körpers und deren Krankheiten (Treatise of the teeth, of the human body and their diseases). Pfaff is the first to take dental and arch impressions with beeswax and obtain cast models with plaster of Paris and centric relations using wax. He theorizes about the aetiology of caries due to cold- and hot-induced fissures through which contamination propagates. Willoughby Miller termed this, the “putrefaction theory”.
1756		Phillip Pffaf suggests covering an exposed pulp with a gold plate, the first mention of pulp capping (Hoffmann-Axthelm, 312)
1757		Jacob Christian Schaffer (1718-1790), German mycologist, entomologist and ornithologist and evangelical preacher,  publishes a book Die eingebildeten Wurmer in Zahnen nebst dem vermeyntlichen Hülfsmittel wider dieselben – The imaginary Worms in Teeth and the alleged remedies against the same, that disproves the existence of tooth-worms a legend that originated 1800 BCE
1757		Etienne Bourdet (1722-1789), French dentist to Louis XV, second most important after Pierre Fauchard, publishes Recherché et observations sur toutes les parties de l’art du dentiste, advocating removal of lower bicuspids to ease anterior tooth crowding. He also links gingival pocket to periodontal bone loss and suggests gingival surgery and for the first time Bourdet suggests using enamel-covered gold plate as a base for a denture instead of platinum which darkened over time upon exposure to saliva. The enamel surrounding individual teeth in the denture were colored red giving the appearance of gingiva.
1761	Giovanni Morgani (1682-1771), Italian, professor of Anatomy at University of Padua, father of modern anatomical pathology publishes his most important work, De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis.
1761		Among the practicing dentists in Paris, we find the first woman, Marie Madelaine Calais. She was an apprentice for eight years to Claude Jacquier Geraudly, a Parisian dentist. She passed an exam with the board of the Order of St Come. (Hoffmann-Axthelm, p. 215). A second woman dentist, Madmoiselle Hervieux is also listed as practicing near the City Hall in Paris.
1764- 1816		Josiah Flagg Jr. among the first native-born American dentist. He built the first dental chair in America on display at Temple University School of Dentistry. First to use gold filling in America.
1766		In France a 2-3 year apprenticeship becomes compulsory for dental surgeons and members of the Order of St. Comes.
1766		King George II appoints to his courta Dentistto His Britannic Majesty.
1766		John Baker, among the first established British dentists in America, and tutor to Paul Revere as a part-time dentist, starts practice in Boston.
1766		Robert Woofendale (1742-1828), one of the first British dentists, arrives to America, pupil of Thomas Berdmore, dentist to King George III. RW sets up practice in New York in 1767. He is credited to have made the first complete set of dentures for William Walton, Esq., of New York. He returned to London in 1768.
1768		Thomas Berdmore (1740-1785), dentist to George III and teacher of Robert Woofendale publishes A Treatise on the Disorders and Deformities of the Teeth. Published 80 years after Charles Allen’s short but concise study of the “Operator for the Teeth”, the book was the first attempt to cover the entire field of dentistry. The book had 278 pages divided in 3 parts and a total of 32 chapters. His book had seen five editions between 1768 and 1777.
1770		Botot, Edme Francois Julien (?-1838?) publishes in Journal de Medicine, Chirurgie, Pharmacie an article entirely dedicated to periodontal disease, entitled Observationes, sur la suppuration des gencives. Unlike Etienne Bourdet who recommends cauterization, Botot’s approach to treatment is conservative, including removal of calculus, oral flushing and application of camphor oil on the gingiva.
1771		Benjamin Fritsche, a Mecklenburg dentist, receives permission from the faculty of medicine at Christian Albrecht University in Kiel to formally practice dentistry. Twelve years later, in 1783 a second dentist, Philipp Frank from Würzburg was issued a certificate by Karl Caspar Siebold, a professor of surgery, setting the stage for appointment of certified dentists to teach medical students in universities as a step in the evolution of dental education.
1771	John Hunter (1728-1793) the greatest Scottish surgeons of the 18th century publishes his seminal work  Natural History of the Human Teeth. Inventor of the careful observation as a method in scientific discovery. His work had a similar effect on British dentistry as Fauchard had on the French dental profession a half a century earlier.	He puts dentistry on a scientific footing. He was an advocate of transplantation and reimplantation of teeth.
1772- 1792		President George Washington has at least nine dentists work on his dental problems including John Baker, the artist Charles Wilson Peale, M. Fendall, William Baker, James Gardette, Jean Pierre LeMayeur, Charles E Whitlock and John Greenwood.
1774		Alexis Duchateau (1714-1792) a French chemist invented the use of mineral paste (porcelain) for artificial teeth replacing human teeth. His method was a crude approach and in many ways impractical which subsequently was improved upon collaboration with Dubois de Chemant in 1788.
1775		Paul Revere (1735-1818), a practicing dentist and revolutionary fame identifies Dr. Joseph Warren’s skull after the battle of Bunker Hill based on the dental work Paul Revere performed, setting the stage for a new field: forensic dentistry.
1778		Jourdain, Anselm-Brechillet (1734-1816), publishes the first treatise on oral surgery: Traites des maladies et des operationes reellement chirurgicale de la bouche.
1780		William Addis of Clerkenwell, UK was the first to produce in larger numbers a toothbrush. Addis used an animal shank bone, drilled holes and attached wild boar fur through the drilled holes to secure a brush. He started a company to mass-produce toothbrush.
1786	Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), Italian physiologist and discreditor of the theory of  spontaneous generation publishes his main work, Experiencias Para Servir a La Historia de La Generación De Animales y Plantas. He was also one of the first to explain the role of gastric juice in digestion.
1788		Nicolas Dubois de Chemant (1753-1824), a Parisian dentist publishes one of three works on mineral paste, a precursor of modern porcelain used in prosthodontics. The work is entitled: Sur Les Avantages Des Nouvelles Dents Et Rateliers Artificiels, Incorruptibles Et Sans Odeur. He perfected the manufacturing of porcelain teeth (mineral paste) invented by Alexis Duchateaux in 1774. In 1791 heobtains a patent from King Louis XVI for a modified porcelain, a mineral paste to manufacture denture base which causes no odor. He used techniques employed by the Royal Manufacturers of Sevres Porcelain, just outside of Paris.
1788	Percival Pott (1714-1788), English surgeon and one of the founders of orthopedics. He is credited to link chimney sweepers exposure to chemicals in soot and carcinoma. As a result, in 1788 the Chimney Sweepers Act is adopted by the British Parliament.
1790		John Greenwood (1760-1810), favorite dentist of George Washington. Created the first foot operated dental drill in 1790 from his mother’s foot-treadle spinning wheel. (Displayed at the New York Academy of Medicine). Greenwood made three sets of complete dentures and several partial dentures for the first president.
1793		George Washington delivers shortest inaugural speech (135 words) wearing dentures with lead base and bovine teeth weighing three pounds.
1794	At the suggestion of Dr. Francoise Chaussier and Antoine-Francois Comte de Fourcroy, the Ecole de Sante (School of Medicine) in Paris reunites medicine and surgery, branches separated since 1163, the Lateran Council that forbade priests involvement in surgical (bleeding) procedures (“Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine”)
1794		Ranieri Gerbi, an Italian dentist in his book published in 1794, Storia naturale di un nuovo insetto, describes a unique remedy for toothache, crushed insect (Curculio antiodontalgicus). Gerbi describes other related insects with similar properties used in Germany, including the Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata).
1798	Edward Jenner (1749-1823), English country doctor, develops the smallpox vaccine setting the beginning of a new era of immunization against infectious disease. In 1798 he published his book  Inquiry into the Variolæ vaccinæ known as Cow Pox.
1796		Frederich Hirsch (Hirschfeld) (1750-1827), German court dentist in Göttingen, author of several studies on dentistry publishes the first cement-like restorative material containing quicklime or calcium oxide (calx viva)
1799		The first formal series of lectures on dentistry in England were given to medical students at Guy’s Hospital in London. Their teacher was a dentist named Joseph Fox.
1799	The Rosetta Stone, a black granite-like stone was uncovered. It had three identical inscriptions in hieroglyphic, in demotic and in ancient Greek and dated from 196 BCE  It was found in Memphis, northern Egypt and in 1822 is deciphered by Jean Francois Champollion in France. That led to a better understanding of Ancient Egyptian medical practice.
1805		Jean Baptist Gariot a French dentist introduces the simple hinge-joint dental articulator. Although not the first, it was an improvement over the plaster articulator introduced in 1756 by Philipp Pfaff.
1808		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.
1809		Edward Hudson and Irish dentist, settled in America, is the first to perform a root canal filling by placing gold foil into the entire length of the root canal. He reported this procedure only in 1850.
1810		James Gardette (1756-1831), first medically trained dentist uses suction chamber and atmospheric pressure for upper denture retention. He arrived in 1778 and brought French inventions to America: mounting natural teeth on a gold mortise plate with teeth secured with gold pins, invented by Etienne Bourdet in 1757, and partial denture anchoring invented by Mouton 1745 by changing flat clasps with stronger elastic wire clasps.
1817		Antoine A. Plantou, a French dentist arrives to Philadelphia in 1817 and brings knowledge of porcelain teeth. He starts manufacturing them in 1819 and in 1822 he receives a certificate of approbation from the Medical Society of Philadelphia. Large scale production is taken over by a Philadelphia jeweler, Samuel Wesley Stockton in 1825.
1818		Louis Nicolas Regnart, a French dentist suggests using a mixture of bismuth:lead:tin mixed with 1/10 mercury as a new material (amalgam) for obturation of cavities. The fusible alloy bismuth:lead:tin mixture was proposed in 1775 by Jean-Pierre Joseph D’Arcet, a French chemist and porcelain manufacturer.
1820		Christophe Francois Delabarre (1784-1862) invents the continuous gum, colored enamel surrounding each tooth embedded into the gold baseplate. This led to the manufacturing of individual teeth made of porcelain and teeth surrounded by artificial gum made of colored porcelain and improves on partial denture clasps for retention. He also invents the impression tray for complete denture (Delabarre, 1826, p. 159).
1820		Maury, Charles F., dentist of the l’Ecole Royale Polytechnique, describes an improved dental mirror (miroire du dentiste). First described in 1598 by Jacques Guillemeau, this was a major improvement. Bartholomew Ruspini is incorrectly identified as the inventor of modern mouth mirror. In 1804 he described an extra oral mirror for patients, rather than dentists.
1821	Stainless steel is discovered by the French mineralogist  Pierre Berthier.
1825		Karl Joseph Ringelmann (1776-1854), becomes the first professor permitted to teach dentistry at the University of Würzburg.
1825	Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842), Scottish physiologist publishes Exposition of the Natural System of the Nerves of the Human Body, a paper he delivered to the Royal Society in London, describing among others, the facial nerve palsy (Bell’s Palsy).
1827		John M. Harris, a medical doctor opens a private dental school in Bainbridge, Ohio. One of the first students is his younger brother, Chapin Harris, one of the co-founders of the Baltimore College ofDental Surgery, along with Horace Hayden, in 1840.
1827	The modern syringe is invented by A Neuner, a physician from Darmstadt, Germany.
1832		James Snell designs the reclining dental chair
1833		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 at the detriment of many local dentists led to banning the use of amalgam and started what is referred as The Amalgam Wars (1835-1850). The ban was reconsidered in 1850.
1834		The noted French physician and author of Traite sur les Dents (1820), Joseph Jean-Francois Lemaire, offers a theoretical and practical course in dentistry at the University of Paris.
1834		Calmann Joseph Linderer of Berlin publishes his book Lehre von den gesammten Zahnoperation nach den Quellen und eigener vierzigjahrigen Erfahrung. In it he describes the first inlay, called “veneer fillings” made of walrus bone, in the shape of a peg, cut to a round shape forced into a round cavity using a small hammer and retained in place with fish-glue cement.
1836		John Roach Spooner (1794-1838), an American dentist employs for the first time arsenic mixed with sulfate of morphia to devitalize teeth and control pain associated with pulpitis. Published by his brother, Shearjashhub Spooner in 1836, Guide to sound teeth.
1837		The Society of Surgeon Dentists of the City and State of New York was established with Eleazar Parmly as its president.
1839		The American Journal of Dental Science is launched, the first dental journal. Among its principal promoters were Solyman Brown, Eleazar Parmly, Horace Hayden, Chapin Harris Woodruff Brown and Elisha Baker. Within a year they had 317 subscribers in 22 US states and foreign countries, including England, France, Holland and the West Indies.
1840		The American Society of Dental Surgeons, the precursor of the ADA is established. Horace Hayden (1769-1844) is its first president.
1840		First dental school in Baltimore, the Baltimore Dental College is opened on November 3, by two visionary physicians, Horace H. Hayden and Chapin Harris. Having been rejected by the medical faculty of the Baltimore College of Medicine for instituting a specialized course in dentistry for medical students, the two applied to the State Legislature in 1939 and obtained a charter to establish a dental school, the Baltimore College of Dentistry, with four professors and five students. In England the London School of Dental Surgery opened in 1859, while in Paris, L’Ecole Dentaire enrolled its first class in 1879.
1840		Wolfsohn, a German dentist from Berlin uses a quick setting dental cement made up a mixture of Sandarac resin (from a small cypress-like tree), mastix, chalk, dissolved ether. (ref. in Nessel, 1840, p. 237).
1841		March 9, the first class of (two) dental students, R. Covington McCaull of New York and Robert Arthur of Baltimore graduate at Baltimore College of Dentists
1841		Alabama becomes the first state in the US to introduce a dental practice act, regulating dental licensure contingent upon passing an exam in front of a medical board.
1841		Pierre Joachim Lefoulon, French dentists publishes Nouveau traité théoretique et pratique de l’art du dentiste in which he introduces the excavator spoon ( “curettes”) to remove carious material.
1842	Crawford William Long, a physician from Georgia successfully performs a surgical removal of a tumor under ether anesthesia. Same year, Elijah Pope, a dentists, using the same anesthetic removes a tooth painlessly. None of these were recorded or published until after the 1846 public demonstration of the use of ether at Mass General Hospital on October 16, 1846 by William T.G. Morton.
1842		Solyman Brown, a New York dentists publishes in the American Journal of Dental Science a paper on creating extended complete dentures that use adhesion of denture to the edentulous surface and the force of cheek muscles for stability without the need for clasps or springs. He used two types of wax for impression.
1842		Georg Carabelli (1878-1842), a Hungarian-born Professor at University of Vienna  makes the first meaningful classification of malocclusion.
1842	Gutta-percha, a rubber polymer is extracted from the sap of the Pallaquium gutta trees of Malaysia. It was classified as polymer of isoprene.	Six years later, in 1848 Antoine Delabarre uses gutta-percha as a denture base material.
1843	The Company of Surgeons of London became the Royal College of Surgeons whose jurisdiction included the whole of England
1844		First plaster impression for complete denture E.J. Dunning
1844		The Philadelphia-based company, S.S.White starts mass producing artificial denture teeth.
1843		Desirabode, Malague Antoine, a French dentist is credited to have taken the first plaster impression of an edentulous arch for complete denture. His 1843 publication, Nouveaux éléments complets de la science et de l’art du dentiste, a two volume work, describes it. Desirabode’s 1843 work contains a chapter entitled  “Prothèse ou mechanique dentaire” Denture or the dental mechanism” (Chapter II, 1843, p. 545). He is the first to mention fluoride “fluate” and its property to harden the caries indicating a potential for caries prevention (page 409)
1844		On December 11, 1844, successful demonstration of nitrous oxide anesthesia while extracting a tooth painlessly. Horace Wells (1815-1848), a Hartford, Connecticut dentist was the patient and initiator of the demonstration. He requested his colleague, Dr. John M Riggs to remove one of Well’s tooth. The NO was supplied by one, Gardner Quincy Colton. The demonstration is a success ushering us into a new era of painless surgery.
1845		(Sir) John Tomes (1815-1895), pioneer dental educator and practitioner gives a series of lectures to medical students at Middlesex Hospital in London, one of the earliest forms of dental education in England. He subsequently published these lectures under the title: A Course of Lectures on Dental Physiology and Surgery, London, 1848.
1846	October 16, the first demonstration of the use of ether in painless surgery, called Ether Day. William Thomas Green Morton, successfully administers ether to a patient undergoing removal of a neck tumor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. After surgery, Professor John Collins Warren declares to the audience that watched the public surgery: Gentlemen, this is no humbug!
1846		The first course in Mechanical Dentistry is introduced by Dr. Cyrenius O. Cone at Baltimore College of Dentistry.
1847	Henry Layard, a British archeologist makes a major discovery at Niniveh. He uncovers 660 tablets with cuneiform  writing containing medical recipes. According to R. Campbell Thompson, a noted Oxford University scholar of Mesopotamian history, these tablets were at least 3,800 years old at the time and date from the period of Enlil-Bani, King of Isinth.	They contain curative incantations for diseases of the mouth, teeth, halitosis and salivation.
1848		Antoine Delabarre, a French dentist and son of Christophe Francois Delabarre introduces gutta-percha as a denture base material and as an impression material.
		GFJ Colburn and WP Blake use gutta-percha as an impression material.
1850		Gustave Blume, a Swiss dentist suggest complete removal of the dental pulp, enlargement of canal with reamers to place a dowel pin. To hold in place, he created notches on the pin and placed gold foil to retain it. In 1859 Jonathan Taft suggested gold foil be replaced with gutta-percha
1851		Charles Goodyear  patents hard rubber (vulcanite) in the US. In England the same was patented in 1843 by Hanckock. Vulcanized rubber was hard and molded into denture base along with gold become the two most thought after material for denture base. Thomas Evans was the first American dentist, living in Paris since 1848, was one of the first to use it.
1851		A hydraulic dental chair is patented by T. C. Ball and in 1855 the lifting jack is added.
1856		Odontological Society of London is formed in 1856 under the leadership of John Tomes and the same year The British Journal of Dental Sciences is launched.
1856		Introduction of the thermoplastic Stent material – Charles Stent
1857		Edward Maynard of Washington creates the first porcelain inlays. He cut out from porcelain teeth the shape that fit a precisely cut cavity and secured it in place with gold foil. Later used cement.
1857		The first patent on a toothbrush is issued in America to H.N. Wadsworth.
1858		William Gibson A Bonwill (1833-1899), an American dentist and architect of balanced occlusion introduces an improved articulator that favors the more dynamic  three point articulation of teeth as opposed to simple occlusion.  His study of 4000 mandibles led to the discovery of the equilateral (Bonwill) triangle between condyles and mandibular symphysis.
1858		Charles Sylvester and A. Rostaing, father-son team from Dresden, Germany develop a secret formula for Cäment,  containing zinc oxide and phosphoric acid. Although successful, the formula was never published and the product forgotten after their death.
1858	First distance learning course offered at University of London
1859		The first dental school in the UK, the London School of Dental Surgery opens.
1859		Jonathan Taft of Cincinnati suggests placement of gutta-percha into a root canal to hold the notched dowel pin.
1859		American Dental Association (ADA) is established with William Henry Atkinson (1815-1891) as its first president.
1864		The first woman to practice dentistry in America was Emeline Roberts Jones, wife of Daniel Albion Jones, a dentists. Emeline was his assistant since 1855 and after her husband’s death in 1864 she took over his practice. She was not trained in dentistry except for the apprenticeship along her husband. There is evidence that in 18th century Paris several women practiced dentistry including Madames Desclaux and Rauxcourt.
1864		William Arlington Gibson Bonwill describes his improved balanced articulator for complete dentures.
1864		The Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company bought Charles Goodyear’s patent on Vulcanite to collect fees from dentists for its use. There were hundreds of court cases for patent violation. Josiah Bacon, the chief enforcer of the license was shot dead in San Francisco in 1879 by a Samuel Chalfant, an irate dentist.
1864		Johann Joseph Schrott – first functional impression for complete denture taking to muscle mold the margins.
1864		Sanford Christie Barnum (1835-1885), a graduate of New York College of Dentistry, second class, 1868, introduced the rubber dam.
1866		The first woman dentists, Lucy Hobbs Taylor of Ellenburg NY, graduates from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, OH. Prior to that she practiced along side Dr. Wardel of Cincinnati for many years and was a member of the Iowa State Dental Society a position that helped her acceptance into dental school.
1867	Joseph Lister publishes in the British Medical Journal a seminal paper: On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, advocating the use of carbolic acid to disinfect surgical areas before operation to prevent infections.
1867		On July 17 faculty of the Harvard medical school voted to establish a dental school, the first to be within a medical school. All faculty had to have a medical degree.
1868	The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario is established.
1869		First black dentists, Robert Tanner Freeman and his classmate George Franklin Grant, graduated in 1869 in one of the first dental classes. Admitted in 1867 into the newly established Harvard University School of Dentistry, they were among the 16 members of the inaugural class that completed the two year program.
1869		Garretson, James Edward a pioneer of orthognathic surgery, from Philadelphia Dental College (now part of Temple University), publishes “A System of Oral Surgery” a textbook that had seen six editions in 30 years. That same year Garretson established the first dental specialty, Oral Surgery.
1870		John W. Hyatt, Jr. and Isaiah Smyth Hyatt patented celluloid, an alternative to vulcanite for denture base. It was obtained by mixing camphor gum and cellulose fiber. It was colorless, an improvement over vulcanite that was black or red.
1871		James Beall Morrison, Ohio dentist patented the foot-pedal operated dental drill (Patent# 111667).
1873		John B. Beers of San Francisco obtains a patent for the gold shell crown (Patent # 144,182).
1874		Adolph Witzel (1847-1906), a German dentist from Thuringhia  suggests disinfecting the root canal with creosate before filling it. He published his findings in 1879. Die antiseptische Behandlung der Pulpakrankheiten des Zahnes :Mit Beiträgen zur Lehre von den Neubildungen in der Pulpa.
1877		The adjustable Wilkerson dental chair, operated by a hydraulic pump to elevate and lower the patient is introduced
1878		The Dentists Act of the UK Parliament is passed. Dentists in the UK are urged for a voluntary registration with the General Medical Council. This voluntary registration was made mandatory in 1921.
1878		Thomas Fletcher of London patents the “translucent enamel”, the first attempt to create an esthetic restorative material for front teeth.
1879	Thomas Alva Edison invents electricity and introduces the electric bulb that could be used reliably. The following year a number of US cities have a stable source of electricity. Although the concept of battery already existed, in the 1890s Edison also came up with an alkaline battery.
1880		Norman W. Kingsley publishes, A treatise on oral deformities as a branch of mechanical surgery a text with detailed descriptions of orofacial prosthodontics and treatment of patients with cleft palate. The text and his pioneering approach to such patients devices earned him the reputation of the “Father of Orthodontics”.
1880s		The collapsible tube instead of a jar or bottle, is used to dispense toothpaste. The idea emerged following Lucius Sheffield, a Connecticut dentists’ visit to Paris where painters on the bank of the Seine used collapsible tubes for their paint.
1883		The National Association of Dental Examiners is formed in the US.
1884		The National Association of Dental Faculties is established (Ref. The NADF)
1884		Cassius M. Richmond introduces the Dowel crown containing the root stump, gold post covered with a gold crown and a porcelain veneer, the “Richmond crown”. (Published in 1880 and 1884 in Dental Cosmos, Talbot, E.S.)
1884		Marshall L. Logan, a dentist from Tyrone, Pennsylvania patents the full porcelain covered crown.
1884		Cocaine is used as a local anesthetic in dentistry. On November 26, 1884 Charles Nash, a dentist successfully injects cocaine to the infraorbital nerve for anesthesia of upper incisors and performs a painless dental procedure on Richard J. Hall, a surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital in New York with prior experience with the anesthetic.
1885		Dental Assisting gets its start. Dr. Edmond C. Kells of New Orleans hires the first female dental assistant for chair-side duties in assisting him during treatment.
1887		The first battery-operated dental drill was designed by Erwin Moritz Reiniger, a mechanical engineer at the University of Erlangen. (Hoffmann-Axthelm, p. 308)
1889		Charles H. Land patents his all-porcelain jacket crown “artificial tooth crown). Patent # 405167 issued on June 11, 1889.
1890		Willoughby Miller, a Ph.D. student of Robert Koch at University of Berlin publishes his dissertation thesis on the chemo-parasitic theory of caries.
1890		Ferdinand Count of Spee, a German anatomist introduces the occlusal curvature, “the curve of Spee”, that bears his name.
1890		First female black woman earns her dental degree from University of Michigan School of Dentistry.
1890s		The diamond drill bit makes its debut.
1891		The first dental simulation manikin head is patented to H.C. Magnusson.
1894	Rubber gloves are introduced at Johns Hopkins Hospital by William Stewart Halsted. His favorite operating nurse, soon to be his future wife, Caroline Hampton developed a skin condition due to frequent use of harsh antiseptic agents like mercuric chloride to scrub in before surgery. Her condition prevented her from helping Dr. Halsted during surgery. At Halsted’s request the Goodyear Rubber Company created a thin rubber glove for Caroline, setting the stage for aseptic surgery.
1895	Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discover the cathode rays (X-ray). Not knowing the source of the radiation, Röntgen called it X-rays. Alpha, beta and gamma rays were discovered in 1900 and 1903 respectively.	By February 1896, X-rays were being used in clinical diagnosis of fractures and in dentistry in Frankfurt. The first x-ray machines used in Germany required dental patients to be exposed for twenty-five minutes.
1895		Carl Partsch, a professor of surgery at University of Breslau perfects the procedure known as apicoectomy.
1896		Alfred Gysi (1865-1957), Swiss Dentist, founder of the Dental Institute at the University of Zurich (1895), perfects the articulator by imitating the glenoid fossa and the condyle and spends half a century on the subject of articulation.
1897		The Kerr Perfection Impression Compound is introduced to the market as a thermoplastic material used to create individualized trays for final plaster impressions. The company: Detroit Dental Manufacturing Company
1899		George B. Snow, dean of Dental Department of University of Buffalo (1904-1913) introduces the face bow as a tool to improve denture esthetics and facial alignment.
1899		Edward Angle publishes his classification of occlusion.
1899		Alfred Bonain introduces the Bonain solution containing equal parts cocaine, phenol and menthol, as an effective topical anesthetic.
1900		Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI) is founded
1901	Karl Ländsteiner, Viennese physician discovers three blood groups (A, B and O). He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1930.
1900		Edward Angle, established the first school of orthodontics, The Angle School of Orthodontics in St. Louis and the next year, 1901 establishes the American Society of Orthodontics.
1902		A free dental clinic for children opens in Strasbourg, Germany. Many similar clinics worldwide followed.
1902		Stewart S. Spence introduces artificial stone (Spence’s Plaster), to replace plaster of Paris as an improved material for casting in dentistry.
1903	Amylocaine (Stovaine) was synthesized by Ernest Fourneau (fourneau = stove in English) at the Pasteur Institute a French chemist. It was first used for spinal anesthesia. Two years later it was replaced by the introduction of Procaine (Novocaine), a better local anesthetic used for regional anesthesia.
1903	Heinrich Braun, a surgeon from Leipzig suggests mixing local anesthetic with the synthetic version of adrenalin to prolong its effect.
1903		Paul Steenbock, a Berlin chemist obtains a patent in Germany for an esthetically pleasing “artificial dental enamel”, one of the more successful dental cements for anterior teeth. The following year he obtains a patent in England. It contains zinc oxysulfate cements and additionally aluminum beryllium, calcium oxide and silicic acid.
1904	Frederich Stolz at the Farbwerke Hoechst, a German company is the first to create synthetic adrenalin named “suprarenin”.
1905		John Peter Buckley, a Hollywood dentist, suggests a paste of tricresol with formaldehyde as a root canal disinfectant.
1905	Local anesthetic, Procaine (Novocaine), an aminobenzoic ester is synthesized by German chemists Alfred Einhorn and Richard Willstätter. It was the only local-regional anesthetic used until 1943 when Lignocaine (Lidocaine)  was introduced by the Swedish chemist, Nils Löfgren as a substitute to avoid the allergic reactions Novocaine induced. That same year, Novocaine is first used by Heinrich Braun, a German surgeon. It was safer and non-addictive, unlike cocaine used before.
1906	Epinephrine (Suprarenin) isolated in 1901 by the Japanese scientist Jokichi Takamine, is marketed as a vasoconstrictor by the German pharmaceutical company Hoechst.
1907		George Cunningham creates an orthodontic study group in Britain
1907		William Taggart or Chicago IL,  introduces new casting machine precision cast fillings (inlays).
1908		Greene Vardiman Black, one of the most important dentists/educator at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, – publishes his book Operative Dentistry and in it his most important contribution to operative dentistry and cavity preparation, extension for prevention.
1910		Alfred E. Gysi develops the adaptable articulator with incisal pin and guide plane. It is a culmination of the work started by Bonwill and Walker and subsequently improved by Hall, Monson, Hanau and others.
1910	The Flexner Report on medical education in the United States and Canada was one of the most influential reports from the Carnegie Foundation. Chaired by Abraham Flexner, an educator and scientist at Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, the report revolutionized medical education and influenced a similar report in 1926, the Gies Report, on dental education.
1910		Cyrus M. Wright at Ohio College of Dental Surgery creates a training program for dental nurses with considerable opposition from local dentists. The program is discontinued in 1914
1911		George H Wilson, describes the “curve of Wilson”, that defines the lingually inclined position of mandibular posterior teeth and buccal position of maxillary posterior teeth to ensure a balanced occlusion.
1911		A chromium-cobalt-nickel alloy that is corrosion resistant, is developed by Gustav Tammann at the Krupp Company in Gottingen
1913		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.”
1916		Frederick McKay observes mottled enamel in children in the Rocky Mountain region without understanding its cause. He publishes in Dental Cosmos a an observational study with G.V. Black as the lead author.
1917		Irene Newmann is the first dental hygiene graduate and licensee in Connecticut.
1919		Establishment of the Journal of Dental Research. William J Gies, the father of modern dental education and research urged attendants at the Harriet Newell Lowell Society for Dental Research at the Harvard Dental School on April 13, 1920 to pursue Research in Dentistry.
1919		The International Association of Dental Research is founded by William J Gies.
1919		Frederich Hauptmeyer, a German dentist creates the first stainless steel prosthesis at Krupp dental clinic in Essen using V2-A, a nickel-chrome-steel alloy.
1921		Rudolph H. Hanau a German engineer designs a new type of (Model M) articulator and over the years additional improved models. Hanau articulators had incisal pin, guide table, variable rotation centers, individual condylar guidance adjustments and compared to previous articulators improved simulated condylar, lateral, protrusive and retrusive movements.
1921		British Parliament passes the Dentist Act that stipulates that only registered dentists are permitted to practice. All dentists must register with the  General Dental Council.
1923		Establishment of the American Association of Dental Schools, the precursor of the American Association for Dental Education (ADEA)
1924		Alphons Poller, invents agar-agar, reversible hydrocolloid impression
1924		The American Dental Assisting Association is established by Juliette Southard.
1926		The Gies Report on dental education is published after seven years (1919-1926) in response to a similar report for medicine, the Flexner Report (1910). Entitled: Dental Education in the United States and Canada, the 600+ page document was the most comprehensive document on US and Canadian dental education. It was issued by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and it was chaired by William J Gies a professor of biochemistry at Columbia University, New York.
1929		Frederick McKay establishes a link between fluoride and caries resistance and mottled enamel. His observations are published in the Dental Cosmos.
1930		Walter Bauer, a German chemist at Rohm and Haas Company in Darmstadt patents methacrylic esters as a new denture base material.
1932		The National Dental Association (NDA) was established in the USA by Black dentists to combat discrimination.
1934		National Dental Board Examinations (NDBE), Part I and Part II are introduced in the United States.
1935		Sodium alginate impression invented – William Wilding
1936		The Kulzer company in Frankfurt, Germany patented Palodon, a dental acrylic that polymerized from the mixing of a powder polymer and a liquid monomer.
1937		H. Trendley Dean publishes a study in Public Health Reports on the minimum level of water fluoridation, 1 parts per million (ppm) to provide protective effect against dental caries without dental fluorosis.
1938		Du Pont de Nemours introduce the nylon toothbrush.
1943	First chemotherapy, nitrogen mustard for lymphoma is tested.
1944	Oswald T Avery demonstrates that nucleic acid, DNA is the basis of heritable information.
1945		Water fluoridation is introduced in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a preventive measure against tooth decay. Over the years, for every dollar invested in fluoridation it saved $38 in dental treatment cost. Approximately 214 million Americans are exposed to water fluoridation today.
1948		Britain starts the National Health Service
1948		NIH opens its third Institute, the National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR).
1950		New Zealand scientist and Dean of the Otago dental School, Dunedin, John Patrick Walsh patented the concept of an air-driven high speed turbine as a dental drill. The prototype that required considerable engineering and subsequent modifications involved other scientists that contributed to its development, including Robert J. Nelson from the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. in 1953. Some of the early prototypes were water driven and reached 75,000 rpm.
1950		Toothpaste containing fluoride is introduced
1951		Air abrasion (AirDent) is introduced in dentistry by Dr. Robert Black. Nevertheless the method, as an alternate to removing decay did not catch on until cavity preparation guidelines and more conservative approaches to enamel/dentin removal from carious lesions are defined in the 21st century.
1952		Ulf Posselt, a Swedish scientist describes the 3D concept of mandibular movement, “the envelope of motion”.
1953	James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, using the X-ray Crystallography images of Rosalind Franklin, deduce the structure of the DNA.
1953	Rita Levi-Montalcini discovers the nerve-growth factor (NGF) and in 1986 she receives the Nobel prize for her discovery along with Stanley Cohen, for his discovery of the epidermal growth factor.
1955		Composite Bonding agent is 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.
1955		Elastic (rubber base) impression material invented – S.L. Pearson
1955		Ivar Norlen, a Swedish dentist demonstrates an air-rotor-driven high speed drill, the Dentalair, that could be regulated for a maximum speed of 140,000 rpm.
1955		Cavitron, the ultrasonic device is introduced.
1956	The first successful bone marrow transplant undertaken by E. Donnall Thomas, between a healthy and a leukemic twin brother.
1956		First dental degree awarded to a Native American, Dr. Geroge Blue Spruce, at Creighton University.
1957		The S.S. White company introduced a fix-speed air-driven turbine, the Airotor invented by John Victor Borden, a Washington dentists, a prototype that overcome many of the technical difficulties noticed in prior models and could achieve 400,000 rpm. It required a continuous water-cooling system to avoid pulp damage.
1958		The reclining dental chair makes its debut.
1960		In the early 1960s the first time saliva is mentioned as a diagnostic tool in papers authored by Columbia University’s Irwin Mandel. Over the next 30 years, he published over 100 papers on saliva.
1960		Lasers are developed.
1960	First on-line course is offered at University of Illinois (PLATO, Program Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations)
1960		Electric toothbrush is marketed
1962	Stanley Cohen discovers the epidermal growth factor (EGF),  and in 1986 she receives the Nobel prize for his discovery along with Rita Levi-Montalcini discoverer of the nerve-growth factor (NGF) in 1953.
1962		Modern composite resins based on Bis-GMA, a metachrylate monomer used in composite restorative materials is invented by Rafael Bowen
1963	Allan Cormack, describes the theoretical basis of the Computer-assisted Tomography Scan. He and  Godfrey Hounsfield are awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1977 for its discovery.
1964	Marshal W Nirenberg and Philip Leder identify the genetic code.
1970s	Paul Christian Lauterbur discovers the possibility of creating a two-dimensional picture by introducing gradients in the magnetic field. He shares the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Sir Peter Mansfield for discovery of the MRI.
1972	Godfrey Hounsfield is awarded a patent for Computer-assisted Tomography.  He and Allan Cormack are awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1977 for its discovery of the CT-Scan.
1974	Peter Mansfield devises a faster pulsed-sequence method that helped Paul Lauterbur to develop the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for which they shared the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.
1974		McLean and Wilson introduce glass ionomer cements as modern fissure sealants.
1980s		Dental varnish is introduced in Europe, Canada and Scandinavian countries. It is a highly concentrated fluoride film that is applied onto tooth surfaces, usually children to prevent dental decay.
1980	Per-Ingvar Brenemark introduces the osseointegration technique, the basis of successful implant placement.
1980s		The digital impression is available but it becomes mainstream only in 2013
1981	The AIDS epidemic starts.	As a result of it, dentistry’s compliance with using rubber gloves went to 100% in a very short time.
1983		Larry Golub from Stony Brook and Barry Rifkin from NYU and their team report  that low dose modified tetracycline are found to inhibit progression of periodontal disease by inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases.
1984	Electronic University Network (EUN) is established to help colleges to expand availability of online courses.
1984		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.
1985		The water fluoridation act is passed in Britain
1987		Francois Mugnon, a French scientist introduced digital radiography to dentistry. He called it the Radio VisioGraphy (RVG) system.
1987	Yoshikazu Kuwana develops the Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells (CAR-T), genetically engineered T cells to be used in adoptive immunotherapy.
1989		Tooth bleaching goes over the counter
1989	Gideon Gross and Zelig Eshhar at the Weizmann Institute of Science, create the first chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to be used in adoptive immunotherapy
1990s		Steve Offenbacher, Jim Beck, Marjorie Jeffcoat and their team link chronic oral inflammatory/infectious conditions with systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease.
1990		The Hispanic National Dental Association was established in the US to improve the oral health of the Hispanic community.
1990	W. French Anderson is approved for the first human gene therapy for a 4-year old girl with severe immunodeficiency syndrome.
1990s		Dental simulations are included in preclinical education across dental schools
1995		Marylin J. Field, Marjorie K. Jeffcoat along with a panel of experts publish Dental Education at the Crossroads, a report by the Institute of Medicine.
1995		The first digital panoramic system in dentistry is introduced to the market by the French Signet company.
1997		Erbium YAG laser is approved for dental use
1997		Invisalign is created  by Zia Chishti and Kelsey Wirth in San Jose, California.
1996		Larry Meskin; Dominick DePaola; Michael Alfano; Harold Slavkin; and Arthur Dugoni found the Santa Fe Group to advocate for the future of oral health, dental education and dental research in the US and address challenges that lie ahead.
1998	One of several genes related to anhydrotic ectodermal dysplasia,  a gene encoding a protein important for epithelial mesenchymal interactions, is cloned by McGrath et al.
1998		The NIDR is renamed National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) under the leadership of Hal Slavkin, to better reflect its scope.
1999		The Oral Cancer Consortium is established at NYU College of Dentistry under the leadership of Michael Alfano.Over the years it grew into a group of 35 institutions that provide free screenings for oral cancer and draws media attention.
2000		The first Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health is released.
2000s		Oral diagnostics, saliva -based testing takes off.
2002	OpenCourseWare Project, MIT offers online course material, free of charge.
2003		Minimally invasive dentistry is defined as the new standard of care with the removal of the least amount of healthy dental tissue
2006	Shinya Yamanaka’s team at Kyoto University generate pluripotent stem cells, the precursor tissue regeneration in the future from any adult cell.
2007		Nakao Kazuhisa and Takashi Tsuji’s group create a bioengineered tooth germ capable of controlled tooth regeneration
2008	FDA approves the first clinical trial for salivary gland gene therapy for xerostomia using aquaporin-1. The phase I study at NIDCR led by Bruce Baum demonstrated reduced dryness in 5 of 11 subjects.
2009		Larry Tabak, DDS, PhD, director of the NIDCR is made Principle Deputy Director of NIH.
2009	Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) is formed.
2010s		Doug Peterson and others warn about the oral toxicity (side effects) of systemic chemotherapy and regional radiation treatment for diverse cancers.
2010		3d printing in dentistry is introduced for bone/bone-substitutes and to create scaffolds for periodontal tissue engineering, setting the stage for a new field, Oral Regenerative Science.
2014		Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a  way to treat dentin hypersensitivity. The material has not been approved yet for arresting caries, although it has done so for decades, as a non-invasive, inexpensive alternative to dental restoration.
2015	Judith Haber of NYU College of Nursing leads a campaign to change the classic head and neck exam of physicians and nurses, the so called HEENT exam (head, eyes, ears, neck and throat) to HEENOT exam, with “O” standing for oral cavity.
2017		Alan Farmicola and Howard Bailit along with a collaborating team publish a summary of the panel: Advancing Dental Education in the 21st Century.
2019	CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), a gene editing tool used by bacteria is successfully harnessed for the first gene-therapy in humans, curing a patient with sickle-cell anemia.
2019		Elena Popa and Abigail Tucker’s group at University College of London manage to artificially grow a new set of teeth in mice, setting the stage for humans regrowing a third and potentially fourth set of teeth in the future.
2020		The Integrated National Board Dental Examination (INBDE) makes its debut after 10 years of preparation.

Copyright 2022 © HistoryofDentistryandMedicine.com