Ancient Dentistry: A Historical Timeline

Would you like to know how dentistry started? Its heritage reaches deeper than the roots of your teeth – even as far back as 12,000 BC. The following contains a short timeline of some of the most significant events in ancient dentistry:

12,000 BC: An ancient infected tooth in prehistoric Italy was cleaned with flint tools – and discovered thousands of years later by archeologists as evidence of the earliest known dental work.
5000 BC: A Sumerian manuscript, the earliest known text to refer to dentistry, explains that “tooth worms” may be the cause of dental decay – a speculation that wasn’t proven wrong until the 1800s!
2600 BC: The passing away of Hesy-Re, the first identified dentist. Part of his Egyptian tomb epitaph reads “the greatest of those who deal with teeth, and of physicians”.
1700-1550 BC: The Ebers Papyrus, a very old Egyptian manuscript, describes diseases of the teeth and toothache treatments.
500-300 BC: Hippocrates and Aristotle write about dentistry – for example, the way children’s teeth typically erupt above the gum line, proper teeth extraction, and the treatment of gum disease, tooth decay, and jaw fractures.
100 BC: A Roman medical writer named Celcus compiles information on oral hygiene and the treatment of loose teeth, toothaches, teething and jaw fractures.
166-201 AD: The Etruscans of old-world Italy perform teeth replacement treatments with gold crowns and fixed bridges.

It’s astonishing what the ancients knew about dentistry. Still, we’ve come a long way since then. Would you like to experience the wonders of modern dentistry technology? Just make an appointment with Dr. Gilbert Fernandez and his fantastic team at Gilbert Fernandez, DDS, Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico by ringing 505-898-8063. We’re here to bring back your smile.