Local History of Dentistry

Visual Resources Association Bulletin, 2020

In 1929, the Gies Report was published by William J. Gies, outlining the foundational criteria for a relatively standardized dental education across the United States. Although it was not included in Gies’ original report, the history of dentistry would eventually become an essential part of that foundational curriculum. Contemporary dental education has pushed the history of dentistry to the side implying that the history of dentistry is unnecessary. Doing so causes much of the responsibility to educate both dental students and the public to fall on institutions like the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry (NMD). The creation of an open-access digital dental history database at the NMD that highlights the multifaceted nature of dental history will be a necessary step forward and a vital resource for curtailing the agnostic attitude that has developed around the history of dentistry. Much of the scholarship about the history of dentistry has addressed various aspects of the discipline’s development over time. They have inadequately addressed the reason why the history of dentistry is as vital to discuss today as it was fifty years ago. Filling this noticeable gap is necessary because more and more dental students are leaving dental school with little knowledge about the history of their discipline and where they fit within that history. Tracing the history of dental education in the United States, examining some of the many facets of the history of dentistry, and providing a comparative analysis of different physical and online dental history collections are the strategies utilized to fill this gap. First, two interviews conducted with Dr. Andrew I. Spielman, President of the American Academy of the History of Dentistry, and Dr. Scott Swank, curator of the NMD, evaluated the state of the history of dentistry in contemporary dental curricula. In addition to these two interviews, understanding what makes the history of dentistry multifaceted is integral in understanding the impact of the field on the profession, contemporary society, and why the history of dentistry needs to be taught or learned. Finally, a comparison of physical and online dental collections to evaluate best practices for creating an online dental history collection and an examination of how such a database can be used by the stewarding institution is discussed.

Balkan Journal of Dental Medicine, 2016

SummaryHistory of dentistry in the Central Serbian District of Jagodina has been influenced by traditional medicine for centuries. Development of dentistry in the region of Jagodina was slow, the level of oral and general hygiene was low and the sanitary prevention was absent. Trained physicians started to practice medicine and dentistry in the first half of the nineteenth century and they were educated in abroad universities. However, common people used to address to these physicians only when the traditional medicine were unable to help. Until the end of the World War II, common, mostly rural people, with the urgent dental treatment need were usually referred to the barbers, healers or empirics in the nearby villages rather than the dentists. Medications used for the urgent dental treatment were balsams and solutions made of herbs. After the World War II, the dental technicians who finished special courses started to practice dentistry. In 1947 the Regional Dental Office in Jagodi...

Medicine and Pharmacy Reports, 2020

At the anniversary of a century since the establishment of medical higher education in the Romanian language, the authors present the personalities who shaped the future of dental surgery within the specialty of dental medicine, and then of the oral and maxillofacial surgery as a branch of stomatology, followed by the establishment of surgery as its own specialty and discipline. The evolutionary stages, difficulties and successes achieved by this specialty are presented through the various historical landmarks of the last century.

Acta Medica Transilvanica

The Specialization Institute in Dentistry (Dental Clinic), both the one that operated in Colțea Hospital and especially the one that operated in Colentina Hospital, both in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, were the first such higher education units in dentistry from Romania, they are in fact the vanguard of the future faculties of dentistry established in our country according to the Soviet model, in 1948. Thus, in this material we tried to highlight some of the most important moments in the existence of those reference units of dental education, period 1928-1948.

Oral Hygiene, 2023

Background/Aims: Good oral hygiene practice helps to prevent oral cavity diseases and dental problems. This study aims to assess oral hygiene practices and their associated factors among middle-aged people in a rural municipality of central Nepal. Materials and Methods: This study collected data from 291 middle-aged adults in rural Nepal using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data was entered into Epidata 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS 22. An oral hygiene score was calculated based on good oral hygiene practices, and chi-square tests and logistic regression models were used to measure associations between variables. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated to measure net effects, with a p-value of 0.05 considered as significant association. Results: The study found that the majority of respondents (80%) brushed their teeth once a day, with over half (56.7%) having poor oral hygiene practices. The majority (60%) changed their toothbrush every three months, and most (98%) used toothpaste but did not know about the benefits of fluoride. A significant association was found between age (p=<0.001), gender (p=0.011), education (p=<0.001), income (p=0.018) and employment status (p=0.037) visits with oral hygiene practices. Females had three times higher odds of good oral hygiene practices than males (OR: 3.51(1.86-6.62)), literate individuals had higher odds of good oral hygiene (OR: 2.04(1.06-3.92). Conclusions: The study found that most respondents brushed their teeth once a day, with over half having poor oral hygiene practices. Gender and education were associated with good oral hygiene practices. The study suggests the need for oral health services and hygiene awareness programs in rural areas.

The Ottoman-Turkish medicine and dentistry was born and developed in the lands of Anatolia. The most mature period of the Islamic medicine was in the Ottoman Empire on the lands of Anatolia. While inheriting the Turkish-Islamic science and culture structure and the ancient age and Old Greek science, it was integrated with the medicine philosophy here. In the 13th and 15th centuries, in Ottomans, the development of the dentistry was on the issues of the dental diseases and periodontology. In the 14th and 15th centuries, it was observed in the medicine books of the Turkish physician writers that they were also dealing with the child dentistry as issues. That the dental medicine took place in the works of art written between the 15th and 19th century shows the existence of the surgeons realizing the tooth extraction. With the opening of the first dentist school in the year of 1909, the training of dentistry started. In this study, the issue of the development and training of the dentistry in the Ottomans among the 13th-19th centuries were dealt with the outlines. Also, the first examples and fundamental works of art of the dentistry literature from the Ottoman Empire to the Republican period will be told shortly.