OCR Text |
Show DENTISTRY OLD AND NEW. Dentistry, though considered peculiarly pecu-liarly modern, has been found highly developed In the pasL Actual specimens speci-mens of anclont dentistry may be seen in various . European museums. Tho most interesting of these specimens, because the oldest, Is a Phoenician example of bridge work found in a tomb at Sidon. The specimen Is now In tho Louvre at Paris aud consists of a part of the upper Jaw of a woman wom-an with tho teeth united by gold wire. Two of them are transplanted teeth fastened in by gold wire. In the museum mu-seum of Corneto (which was the ancient an-cient Tarqulnll, the capital of the Etruscan federation) may bo seen a number of marvelous specimens of dental work of the sixth and seventh centuries before Christ. They consist mainly of bridge work done by rlvet-od rlvet-od bands of metal One of thorn supported sup-ported three artificial teeth, two of theso artificial teeth being made out of a single ox tooth grooved to imitate imi-tate rathor cloaoly two human teeth. In the laws of tho twelve tables written writ-ten In Rome 450 B. C , while It Is expressly ex-pressly forbidden to bury gold ornaments orna-ments with bodies, a special exception is mado for gold with which the teeth may perchance be bound together. The Museum of Pope Julius at Rome contains con-tains a "gold cap made of two small plates of gold stamiod out to represent repre-sent rather closely a middle lower incisor in-cisor and those two pieces soldered together to form the crown of a tooth " The satiric poots of Rome, especially Martial, refer frequently to artificial teeth, says the Journal cf tho American Medical Association In an entertaining discussion of this subject. sub-ject. Martial speaks of an old woman who was so scared that as she ra7 away her teeth fell out In one epigram epi-gram ho answers the question whv one woman's tneth are dark, while another's aro whito. savins that ono of thorn buys her teeth, while tho other oth-er has her own. The Romans had a number of different kinds of dentifrices, denti-frices, and took great care of their tooth. Galen describes a form of pas-tlllo pas-tlllo containing aromatlcs and opium that mlsht ho used as a toothache gum. Tho filllncr of teeth with various kinds of metal Is described by Colsus though tho first sure reference to gold filling does not occur until about tho middle of the fifteenth century The transplantation of tooth, especially from the mouths of slaves into those of their mistresses, seoms to havo boon practiced rather commonly in the early days of the Roman empire. |