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

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The Middle Ages ,y A A- The Middle Ages have rightly been called the Dark Ages, for the glory of Rome was swept away in the fifth century, and Roman world domination, with all its culture and refinement, was brought to an end. The Arabians, whose hordes swept over Europe in a mighty invasion, nurtured but did not advance medical science in an age characterized by dtdlness and impeded prog- ress. Toward the middle of this period, Christianity flour ' shed, and where before the body had been a beau- tiful ornament, to be adorned and admired, it was now an object of contempt, a source of iniquity. Naturally an art such as dentistry, designed to make the body more beautiful, was relegated to the background, to be- come a lost science which would have to be rediscovered and built up anew. But Christianity made one contribu- tion to dentistry that has never been altered — that of its patron saint, St. AppoUonia. However, although she is al- ways acknowledged as the benefactress of the dentist, she was in those days the patroness of the patient, since it was to her the patient prayed for relief from tosthache. This good woman, born of heathen parents, was canonized in the year 3 00, and was baptized a Christian by St. Anthony of Egypt. She brought many converts to the Roman faith by her eloquency and zeal, but suffered torture and martyrdom in one of the many anti-Christian outbreaks. When she would not renounce her beliefs, she was bound, and her teeth extracted one by one. She remained steadfast, and the en- raged mob clubbed her about the head and threw her body into the flames. One other change in the profession was that dentistry, which before had been a specialty of priests and physicans, now was considered entirely beneath the dignity of surgeons, and became the sideline of barbers, along with the activities of minor surgery. The course of time, however, elevated surgery above the practice of the barber, but dentistry still remained with the more inferior class of barbers. The great Arabian invasion took place in the 8th cen- tury, and swept away the world ' s finest library at Alex- andria. The invaders realized their blunder before it was too late, and they saved what Syrian, Greek, and Persian works they could. Those of Galen and Hippocrates they translated into Arabian and carried with them to Spain, where they eventually settled. But they themselves made little progress at all, either in dentistry or medi- cine, because of the tenet of their religion which forbade them to touch a dead human body. In fact, surgery de- graded to a point where slaves were the only ones al- lowed to perform the duties of the art of heahng, espe- cially when the case demanded minor surgery. Persian physicians, the most famous of whom was Rhazes, wrote of filling cavities in teeth with mastic and alum, and of treating peridontitis by bleeding, or cauterization with a red-hot iron. Still, there was no (C :p t J JyI A AAA AAA AAM v Ag, 3 -AAA A A A a. Scalers of Abulcasis advance over the knowledge of the old Romans, of whom they seemed to know so little. The only other Persian of note was Avicenna, who has been called the second Galen, and also the prince of doctors. But although his accounts of dental physiology and anatomy are very complete, they do not advance beyond the teachings of Galen. He taught the worm theory as the cause of odontalgia, and portrayed them as gnawing away the dental substance. He stressed cleanliness and care of the teeth, but never the extraction of a firm tooth, since the operation might lead to the loss of an eye, or to a raging fever. A file was his means of short- ening a tooth, supporting the tooth in his fingers to guard against its becoming loosened. The greatest Arabian physician was Abulcasis, whose writings of the 10th century were intended mainly to raise surgery to a status worthy of any reli- gion, as well as to free it from impu- dent and audacious barbers. In his De Chirurgica, Abulcasis also tells how to treat fistula by repeated cau- teries introduced into the recess. If these failed, he recommended curetting the bone. Cauterization he also recommended for toothache, either by means of hot butter held in the mouth, or a more drastic red-hot iron, to be used on failure of the milder method. His set of 14 scrapers are the first known instru- ments used in the serious removal of tartar, and though illustrations of these are badly drawn, they show at least that some attempt had been made at special- ized instrumentation. Loose teeth were treated by the use of gold wire to bind them to firmer teeth, and replacement of lost teeth by transplantations from other patients was a frequent operation. But there persisted a fear of extracting teeth, the same as there was in the Roman era, and the Arabians worked hard and long in devising prescriptions and remedies that would soothe pain but leave the tooth whole. The Crusades cleared the way for the revival of in- terest in medical and dental teachings, since returning knights brought with them refinements learned in Sara- cen strongholds. The practice of these times is well illustrated in the works of Guy de Chauliac (1300- 13 68), who was reputedly the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages. Although he made no outstanding at- tempt to awaken dentistry from its lethargy, he paved the way for its freedom from the surgeon ' s realm by suggesting that the art of dentistry be handed over to barbers or others well qualified for the position, who should, nevertheless, be under the jurisdiction of the physician. De Chauliac filled teeth, as well as extracted them, and he also thought that decay was caused by the presence of minute worms. Calculus he removed with his Arabian designed instruments, and he wrote prescriptions by the hundreds for the relief of dental pain. ±± =3 Page Twenty

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Classes St. Appollonia, Patron Saint of Dentistry age ' byinctccn

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dure was taken in l ' J] in the This pic old dental school, a huilding now occu- pied by the medical school, located di- rectly across the street from our present school building. We see the Clinic as it was then, a year in which most of the 100th graduating class were but gleams in ihc eyes of their parents. A little be- low the center stands Dr. A. H. Patcrson, who is now our Professor of Prosthetics and Crown and Jiridge, and who at this time was a Senior. To the right is the old-fashioned roller towel, far from clean, which evcrycne made use of — sometimes. Foot engines and chandeliers for gas illumination can also be seen. This is also a view of the clinic in the old building, as it was in 1923. The gas fixtures have given away to electric lights, but we still can see the foot- engines for the handpieces. In the right foreground is a demonstrator ' s desk, where restorative work was done; it seems there was no separate clinic for this kind of work. Notice the beaver hats on some of the children. This is the Children ' s Clinic in the old building, also taken about 1923. Dean T. O. Heatwole can be seen at the left center, and Dr. O. H. Gaver, then direc- tor of the Clinic, in the center. To the right, with arms folded, is Dr. A. Y. Russell, and in the white gown at the far right is cne who very much resem- bles Dr. Gravson W. Gaver. Pjgt ' Tucnty-oite