University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 13 text:

scientifically clcall wltli according to natural laws, and he is the acknowledged Father of Medicine. His works are full of references to the teeth and their care; notable among these is his discourse on the deciduous teeth. His prescriptions for dentifrices, which are re- volting to our own highly sensitive stomachs, are never- theless basically quite practical: Take the head of a hare, and three mice, two of these having the entrails removed; incinerate them and reduce them to ashes, then mix with equal weight of powdered marble. The shops where doctors plied their trade (and it was in reality no more than just that) always had a specialist of some sort to take care of dental ills, who, if he was not a medical man, was at least a member of a group which devoted its time and efforts to dentistry as a specialty. There were fillings and artificial replacements, but these specialists concerned themselves only with pre- scribing remedies or extractions — artisans of another sort filled teeth or bound loose ones to stronger supports. Soon Rome took her place In the realm of civilization, and her Etruscan ancestry left her the fruits of Phoeni- cian and Egyptian conquests. Tombs of wealthy Etrus- cans divulged evidences of a highly skillful dental tech- nique designed mainly to supply artificial substitutes where needed. In Italian museums we see that the most widely used type of appliance was that covering most of the teeth with rings of gold, one of which held the sub- stitute, which, in turn, was secured by a pin of some sort passing through the tooth and gold ring both. It was only natural for Rome, always quick to absorb cul- ture or advancement of any sort from the areas of her numerous conquests, to take for her own these advances in beautification of the oral cavity. Of these prosthetic efforts, we have good proof in the writings of Martial, the poet, who brings out the fact that even as today, people of good taste avoided gold for more natural- looking substitutes: and, If tectli like tliine, lady, wc would display. With purchased bone and horn of India Our mouth must be arrayed. Thais has teeth so black; Lecania wliite; Seek you the cause? Lecania ' s teeth are bought. While Thais wears her own. The Romans added to the natural store of dental knowledge, also; for Galen, the most famous of Roman physicians, was the first to discover that the teeth have nerves. He also was responsible for naming the cuspids eye-teeth, thinking as he did that the nerves of these teeth were connected to those of the eyes. Toward the dawn of Christianity, when the glory of Rome was be- ginning to fade, dentists were filling teeth with lint and lead, but merely as a stop, and with no consideration of arresting the progress of decay. But when filled, these teeth were supported in such a way as to withstand the pressure of the extractor ' s forceps. We may call the Romans the first orthodontists, too; for they realized that after deciduous teeth were extracted, it was the force of a pressing finger that helped to guide its suc- cessor into place. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the Latin Hippocrates of the first century A. D., left us the most accurate ac- count of medical knowledge at that time. In his De Medicina, libri acto, discussions of dental diseases and their treatment occupy a large part. He was also the first to sense that certain oral diseases were but mani- festations of systemic disorders, and he sought to build up the body accordingly. Whenever ulcers of the mouth arc attacked by gan- grene, it is necessary to first consider whether the whole body be unhealthy, and in that case, to do what is neces- sary to strengthen it. I ' or toothache, the worst of tortures, Celsus pre- scribed a narcotic of castorcum, cinnamon, mandrake, and poppy, with further instructions to abstain entirely from wine; if the pains were violent he advocated pur- gations and hot cataplasms on the check. For abscesses, he gave the following directions: It also happens, that from an ulcer of the gums — whether it follows a parulis or not — one may have for a long period a discharge of pus, on account of a broken or rotten tooth, or else on account of a disease of the bone; in this case there often exists a fistula. Then the latter must be opened, the tooth extracted, and if any bony fragment exist, this should be removed; and if there be anything else diseased, this should be scraped away. So much for a cross-section of the dawn period of dentistry. At most, our profession had become merely a part of the general medical knowledge of those times and was far from being an entirely separate science, a boon which it did not receive until the 16th century in France, as we shall see. The knowledge of these early sages of sciences was meagre, and yet, how great an advance over that of the savage who was our first an- cestor! Methods were still crude; but there was at least a keystone, a beginning, on which succeeding genera- tions could build an edifice of scientific advance. As civilization bloomed, dental caries also flourished and became more rampant; theories sprang up of small worms that ate away the dental substance, causing the throb of toothache. Perhaps we are amused at anything so foolish, but is man much farther advanced today in his researches as to the cause and control of caries? Man has advanced — yes: he has temples of learning built all over the world in which he can search out many a problem; but the knowledge of man is still dwarfed beside that of omniscient Nature. The First Bridgevork — Greek in Origin Page Nine

Page 12 text:

The Dawn of Dentistry As long as man has been an inhabitant of the earth, there have been pain, disease, and injury ever present to destroy his well-being and happiness. But shrouded in the obscurity of superstition, fear, and ignorance, these ills were merely a cog in the wheel of life, which, turn- ing incessantly, made his existence a survival of the fit- test. Man, however, is endowed with a thinking brain, to distinguish him from the animals he outlived. In the course of hundreds of years, science took its place in his environment, slowly alleviating his sufferings one by one, until finally, life for him is no longer a drab strug- gle, but an opportunity for a full and beautiful exist- ence. He has learned now that his ills and pains can be treated, if not wholly cured, by men well trained for their tasks, and the knowledge of this protection is to him a security which he carefully treasures. Not the least source of man ' s tribulations have been his teeth, which, while they may not have pained him, might have caused him sorrow by their unsightliness, disintegration, or total absence. It was but a question of time before a field of health service would be devoted entirely to the progress of what had been conceded to be one of the branches of medicine. To dentistry ' s develop- ment as an individual science we wish to devote the fol- lowing narrative. A study of antiquity perhaps first leads us to the Hindus and Chinese. Among the former, physicians were held in high regard, second only to the priests. Those concerned with dentistry were classed with hair- cutters, ear-borers, nail trimmers, and blood-letters, all of whom were certainly not of Brahmin caste. The Chinese, although their writings are full of prescriptions and remedies for all sorts of tooth pains, are important mainly for their operation known as acupuncture, which consisted of puncturing the gums or other sus- pected parts of the body with gold or silver needles of various sizes, for the purpose of relieving any abscesses that may have been present, and thus removing obstacles to the circulation of spirits or humors. About 2100 B. C, Hammurabi was the ruler of Baby- lon. Under him, the cure of disease was allotted to ■ The Father of Medical Science priests. Hammurabi is credited with one of the first law codes, and there have been unearthed many stone tablets upon which cuneiform script tells the story of his great- ness. One of these quotes the following as an antidote for the Tooth Worm, which was then believed to cause toothache: As the God Anu created the sky, the sky created the earth, the earth created the rivers, the rivers created the canals, and the canals created the marsh. The marshes created the Worm, the Worm came crying before Samas, the Son, before Ea, his tears streamed down. ' What do you give me to eat? ' I will give you dried figs or apri- cots. ' For me! What is this? Dried figs or apricots! Let me insert myself in the inner of the tooth and give me his flesh for my dwelling. Out of the tooth I will suck his blood, and from the gum I will chew the mar- row. So I have entrance to the tooth! ' Because you have said this and have asked for. Worm, may God Ea strike you with the might of his hands. You shall mix Emmer- mischbier with oil. The text of the incantations y ou shall say three times and to his tooth you shall bring it. These tablets were among a number of similar tablets contributed to the temple upon which were inscribed an account of the symptoms of the patient ' s ailment, as well as the remedies used, and the results, so that, taken altogether, these tablets were really the medical text- books of that time. Babylonian culture was preceded, however, by that of the Egyptians, concerning whom much was brought to light in the Ebers papyrus, which covered a period from 3700 to 15 50 B. C. In the parts devoted to the art of healing, many remedies can be found dealing with the cure of the tooth that grows into the upper part of the flesh (gums?), while other prescriptions recom- mend methods of strengthening the teeth and gums. But since the papyrus seems a mere collection of cures for a polyglot of ailments, there cannot be found any definite mention of well-known dental operations, such as fillings and extractions. Thus, Dr. Guerini concludes that no surgical operation was performed in the mouth at all, mainly because there were no specified instru- ments then existent for their accomplishment. Then, as before, dentistry was a part of medical science, which, in turn, was bound closely to magic and the super- natural. The ministers to the sick were called Pasto- phori, and these were acknowledged members of the sacerdotal caste. There were no definite attempts at pros- thesis unless one would like to consider as such wire at- tachments for loose teeth; nor were any attempts made toward filling cavities or replacing missing teeth with artificial substitutes. Prosthesis of any sort does not cross the horizon of history until the next stage in civilization — that of the Phoenicians, which flourished about 1000 B. C. In one of their tombs was found an appliance consisting of two cuspids to which are bound by gold wire four incisor teeth. We think that this is the first attempt at bridge- work of any kind. We now come to the first one who really attempted to raise this veil of obscurity — Hippocrates (460 to 370 B. C). He advocated that disease should be Pag,e Eight

Page 14 text:

Dean J.Ben Robinson, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. Dean Robinson is a native son of West Virginia. He taught school there for a while before entering Marshal College, from which he graduated with honors in 1908. He then entered the Dental School of the University of Maryland and graduated as the Gold Medal Winner in 1914. As a teacher, he was Professor of Clinical Dentistry and Professor of Operative Dentistry; in 1924 he succeeded Dr. T. O. Heatwole as Dean. Dr. Robinson is well-known as a forceful and dynamic personality. He speaks very well and his diction is vivid and emphatic. It is a general opinion that he has been the guiding spirit of the entire Centenary Cele- bration and that the whole affair was mainly his conception. As far as his everyday relations with the student body, there was never a more democratic dean in any institution. He has made our school one in which the student feels that his teachers are there to help him at all times, especiall) when he is behind in his studies. We do not think of him as a prexy who wields the strong upper hand of authority; to us he will always be J. Ben — our friend and sympathizer, ready to help anyone of us who have fallen by the scholastic wayside or who need advice of any kind. Page Ten