The Excruciating History of Dentistry

Book excerpt: An “entertaining history” of the practice of dentistry that will remind you how lucky you are to live in the modern era (Publishers Weekly). For those on both sides of the dreaded dentist’s chair, James Wynbrandt has written a witty, colorful, and richly informative history of the art and science of dentistry. To all of those dental patients whose whine rises in tandem with that of the drill, take note: You would do well to stifle your terror and instead offer thanks to Apollonia, the patron saint of toothache sufferers, that you face only fleeting discomfort rather than the disfiguring distress or slow agonizing death oft meted out by dental-care providers of the past. The transition from yesterday’s ignorance, misapprehension, and superstition to the enlightened and nerve-deadened protocols of today has been a long, slow, and very painful process—as shown by such facts as: *Among the toothache remedies favored by Pierre Fauchard, the father of dentistry, was rinsing the mouth liberally with one’s own urine. *George Washington never had wooden teeth. However, his chronic dental problems may have impacted the outcome of the American Revolution. *Soldiers in the Civil War needed at least two opposing front teeth to rip open powder envelopes. Some men had their front teeth extracted to avoid service. *Teeth were harvested from as many as fifty thousand corpses after the Battle of Waterloo, a huge crop later used for dentures and transplants that became known as “Waterloo Teeth.” “You’ll gain a great deal of dental knowledge, acquired quite painlessly.” —The New York Times Book Review “Just the thing you need to get through your next oral probing.” —Entertainment Weekly “A breezy romp . . . While sensitive dentists may wince at having their profession’s rough-and-tumble past revealed, dental patients are more likely to feel relief at having been born in the modern era of dentistry. Both groups are in for a good laugh.” —Kirkus Reviews