A History of Dentistry from the most Ancient Times until the end of the Eighteenth Century. Vincenzo Guerini
was written, dental pathology and therapy were still in a very primitive condition, and formed a part of general medicine, from which they showed as yet no tendency to separate; so true is this, that the remedies intended for the treatment of the teeth do not constitute a special section of the work, but are to be found among medicaments of an altogether different nature. Thus, at page lxxii of the papyrus7 we find, first, three remedies against the itch; then five remedies for the cure of pustules in various parts of the body; next an ointment and a potion for the bennut blisters in whatever part of the body they may occur; after this, three medicaments against the bennut blisters of the teeth; and lastly, a plaster for curing crusts and itching in whatsoever part of the body.
One finds no mention of dental surgery in the Ebers’ papyrus. No conclusions could be drawn from this fact if the work only spoke of medical treatment, for then it might reasonably be supposed that the compiler had purposely occupied himself with this subject only; but, on the contrary, the Ebers’ papyrus frequently makes mention of operative interventions, and among these, of the use of the knife and of the red-hot iron for the treatment of abscesses and of certain tumors. Therefore, there being no mention made in the papyrus of any dental operation, not even of extraction, gives us reason to suspect that at that remote epoch no surgical operation was carried out on the teeth, and that, as yet, no instruments existed for practising extraction.
In the time of the celebrated historian Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, who lived in the fifth century previous to the Christian era (about from 500 to 424 B.C.), that is, more than a thousand years after the time in which the Ebers’ papyrus was written, the dental art in Egypt had made remarkable progress, and was exercised by specialists. In fact, in the second book of Herodotus we find the following passage: “The exercise of medicine is regulated and divided amongst the Egyptians in such a manner that special doctors are deputed to the curing of every kind of infirmity; and no doctor would ever lend himself to the treatment of different maladies. Thus, Egypt is quite full of doctors: those for the eyes; those for the head; some for the teeth; others for the belly; or for occult maladies.”8
Having here had occasion to refer to the History of Herodotus, we will quote two passages of this famous work, which have a certain interest for our subject;
“Whilst the tyrant Hippias, after having been driven out of Athens (510 B.C.), was marching against Greece at the head of the Persian army and had already arrived at Marathon, he happened one day to sneeze and to cough in a more vehement manner than usual; and he being already an old man, and his teeth all shaking, a violent fit of coughing suddenly drove one of them out of his mouth, and it having fallen into the dust, Hippias set to work, with great diligence, to search for it; but the tooth not coming to light, he drew a long sigh, and then said, turning to those who were standing by: ‘This land is not ours, neither shall we ever be able to have it in our power; what clings to my tooth is all of it that will ever belong to me.’ ”9
In another part of the History, that is, in the ninth book, Herodotus recounts as follows:
“When the corpses buried after the battle of Platea were already despoiled of their flesh, a curious fact was seen; for the people of Platea having collected the bones of those who had perished, there was found amongst them a skull altogether devoid of commissures, and composed of one single bone. A jaw was also found, the teeth of which, comprising the molars, appeared to be made all of one piece, as though composed of a single bone.”
Relative to this last passage of Herodotus, we may remark, as does Stark, that the total synostosis of the skull bones is certainly very rare, but that, nevertheless, one has authentic examples of the same, not only in ancient but also in relatively modern times, witness the famous skull of Albrecht von Brandenburg, surnamed the German Achilles, who died in 1486, and was buried in the monastery of Heilbronn. As to teeth united together and forming a single piece, no example exists save in very ancient authors, for instance, in Valerius Maximus, who recounts a similar marvellous fact of Prusia, King of Bithynia, and in Plutarch, who attests to a similar fact in the person of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus.
It is very difficult to establish within what limits the activity of the dentists alluded to by Herodotus was displayed. It has been affirmed by some that dental art in ancient Egypt was very far advanced, and that not only the application of artificial teeth, and even of pivot teeth, but also stoppings, were practised by the Egyptian dentists of those days. Here are some data on this subject:
Joseph Linderer10 tells us that, according to Belzoni11 and others, artificial teeth made of wood and very roughly fashioned have been found in Egyptian sarcophagi.
George H. Perine, a dentist of New York, in an article on the history of dentistry,12 says: “Both filled and artificial teeth have been found in the mouths of mummies, the cavities in the former stopped with gold and in some cases with gilded wood. Whether these fillings were inserted during life for the purpose of preserving the teeth, or after death for ornamentation, it is, of course, impossible to say. That the Egyptians were exceedingly fond of embellishing their persons with gold ornaments and bright colored materials is a fact which has been clearly established, and the discovery of mummies—of exalted personages no doubt—some organs of which were gilded and embellished with showy colors proves that their fondness for display accompanied them even to the grave.” To this may be added, that after an embalmment of the highest class13 it was usual to gild the eyebrows, the point of the nose, the lips, and the teeth of the corpse, and place a gold coin between the teeth, or cover over the tongue with a thin gold plate.
Dr. J. G. Van Marter, a dentist in Rome, in an article on prehistoric dentistry,14 writes, among other things, that the renowned archæologist, Mr. Forbes, had seen mummies’ teeth stopped with gold.
The great defect of all the assertions referred to is that of not being accompanied by any element of proof, wherewith to demonstrate their truth. When, for example, we are told that Mr. Purland possesses, in his collection of antiquities, a tooth pivoted on to the root of a mummy’s tooth, the question suggests itself naturally: If this tooth is, as it appears, separated from the jaw of the mummy to which it is said to have belonged, how can we be certain that the tooth itself is really that of a mummy? Until sufficient proof of this be furnished, we cannot but consider the above assertion as absolutely without value.15
The same may be said as to the assertions of Wilkinson and Forbes with regard to mummies’ teeth stopped with gold. Where and by whom were these mummies found? And where are they preserved? Was the stopping, too, verified at the time of the finding of the mummy, in such a manner as to exclude all possibility of fraud, or was it discovered afterward, in circumstances such as to suggest the possibility of a mistification? It has, in fact, been reported16 that the pretended Egyptian stopping in a mummy existing in an English museum was nothing else than a practical joke, carried out, besides, in a very awkward manner.
In opposition to the above assertions, we have the most absolute contradictory statements on the part of the most competent authorities.
The celebrated Egyptologist, Prof. George Ebers, has only been able, in spite of the most accurate research, to arrive at completely negative results in all that has reference to the dental art of the ancient Egyptians.17
The distinguished craniologist Prof. Emil Schmidt, of Leipzig, who owns a collection of several hundred mummies’ skulls, writes thus on the question now before us: “In no jaw have I ever found anything that could be attributed to the work of dentists: no fillings, no filing or trepanning of teeth, no prosthesis.”18 Virchow, who also examined a great many Egyptian skulls, among which were several belonging to royal mummies, did not find any indications of dentists’ work;19 and Mummery, as well, although he made the most conscientious researches on this subject, could not arrive at any positive results whatever.20
Between the affirmations of some and the negations of others, it is very difficult to say on which side the truth lies. For my own part, I fail to find that there is the least proof of the ancient Egyptians having known how to insert gold fillings and still less to apply pivot teeth. But at the same time I think it cannot be doubted that the Egyptian dentists knew how to apply artificial teeth. And even