Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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ORAL SURGERY HENRY SAGE DUNNING, D.D.S., M.D., B.S. Professor of Dentistry ADOLPH BERGER, D.D.S. William Carr Professor of Dentistry JOSEPH SCHROFF DOUGLAS B. PARKER FRANCIS S. McCAFFREY SAMUEL BIRENBACH B.S., M.D., D.D.S. M.D.. D.D.S. B.S.. D.D.S. D.D.S. Associate Prof, of Dentistry Associate Prof, of Dentistry Associate Prof, of Dentistry Assistant Prof, of Dentistry KENNETH F. CHASE D.M.D. Instructor in Dentistry JOSEPH L. McSWEENEY ALBIN R. SEIDEL F. A. STEWART ROBERT NORTHROP D.D.S. D.M.D. A.B.. D.D.S. D.D.S. Assistant in Dentistry Instructor in Dentistry Instructor in Dentistry Instructor in Dentist

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THE provinc e of operative dentistry is to treat symptomatically the ravages of dental caries. The existing infection is treated locally in its mani- festations in the tooth and an attempt is made to prevent its further spread. In early times, crude stumbling and super- stitious methods were used. Back in ancient Greece when good old homo sapiens had a tooth- ache he ran quickly into his kitchen, emptied his mouse trap and ground the bodies of the freshly killed mice to a powder. He mixed this with ground marble and inserted into the hollow of his tooth. And lo! the pain disappeared and the tooth was filled. The Incas, Aztecs and Mayans pre- pared cavities and inserted gold, cement and pre- cious stones — and not merely for decorative pur- poses. Guillemau, early in the 18th century, rec- ommended his improved white wax as a filling material. White waxe mixed with gumme elemni, white coralle and preparede pearles. Thus little was known of operative dentistry prior to the 19 th century, for the instruments then in use were crude; filling materials impractical and the dentist, no matter how skilled, was unable to make adequate restorations. In the 19th cen- tury came workable theories as to the nature of caries; replacement of antiquated instruments and filling materials and methods of cavity prepara- tion. Today, with our knowledge of dental caries gained by unceasing productive research, new developments and improvements in filling ma- terials and with exacting procedures for cavity preparation at our disposal, we are able to attack the problem of dental caries from a rational sci- entific basis. PEDODONTIA feMMMBH EWING C McBEATH D.D.S., B.S., B.M.. M.D. Professor of Dentistry LEWIS R. STOWE D.D.S. Associate Professor of Dentistry SOLOMON N. ROSENSTEIN, B.S., D.D.S. Assistant Professor of Dentistry RADIOLOGY TODAY, more and more emphasis is being cen- tered upon the preventive aspects of dentistry Obviously the logical place to begin prevention is in early life. With this growing realization, the practice of Dentistry for children is becoming a greater and more important phase of dentistry than ever before. Formerly early carious loss of the deciduous dentition, with the resulting mal- development of the facial and jaw bones and mal-alignment and occlusion of the permanent teeth was a common occurrence. Happily that era is on the wane. In the words of Dr. McBeath — It is both probable and possible that the rapidly growing reverence for and fuller understanding of dentistry for children may eventually so change the perspective of dentistry as to reduce the magnitude of the technical superstructure. Its general contour would be much improved by the resulting symmetry and intimate co-ordination of its many equally important phases. . . . The trend would be toward a more satisfactory orientation of the dental profession as an important adjunct in the science and art of healing. HOUGHTON HOLLIDAY A.B., D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry r J HARRY H. MULHAUS Technician . U EVALD UNDER Technician

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Dental surgery is based upon the same medical and surgical precepts as other phases of surgical practice. It has its remote origins in general med- ical surgery. Dental ills were in all probability treated along with other bodily ills by the primi- tive medicine man. The first mention of dental surgery comes from the Egyptians who practiced extraction of teeth. Also among their records are instructions for the reduction of dislocated man- dibles. The Greeks went a step further and devised an instrument for extraction — the odontagagon, a leaden model of which was placed in the temple at Delhi. They performed minor oral surgery. In Hippocrates ' writings, we find descriptions of var- ious pathologic conditions and instructions for setting fractures of the mandible which are very similar to the methods in use today. Aristotle and other Greek writers contributed to the dental literature of the period. Although the Romans did not offer very much to dental surgery, they assimilated knowledge from the countries which they conquered and gave it wide application. The greatest of the Roman writers on dentistry was Celsus, who wrote extensively on all its phases. For loose teeth and cankerous ulcers of the gums, he describes a remedy which was found in the filth of the tail of the sheep rolled up into little balls, left to dry and reduced to powder. Celsus also described a Roman method of ex- traction in which the gum was detached all around and the tooth was shaken until it was so loose that it could be pulled out with the fin- gers. (No anaesthesia.) If this procedure was not successful, forceps were used. In this period there were several classes of men who treated teeth. At the top were the surgeons, wh o played a part in the progress of dental surgery. The barber surgeons were next below the surgeons. Theirs was also a respectable trade at that time. The lowest was the itinerant tooth puller, who was classed with the tinkers, bawds, rogues ,etc. He did nothing to further dental progress. In the beginning of the modern period, we find, in Italy, Fabricius describing extracting instru- ments according to their resemblance to the beaks of animals, e. g., molar forceps or pelicans, rostrum, crow ' s beak, cagnioli or dog-bite. In France we meet Fauchard, the father of modern dentistry, who was not only a skilled exodontist who designed his own instruments for extraction, but he also described in detail various pathologi- cal mouth conditions. Though King James I used to extract teeth as a hobby, Great Britain lagged much behind the continent in dental surgery. From Great Britain and France came the first American dentists. These formed the nucleus from which dental surgery developed in America. One of the earlier American methods of extrac- tion consisted in the application of the beaks of the forceps along the sides of the tooth and the impinging gingiva. The tooth and the gingiva were removed together. Modem dental and oral surgery is concerned with careful dissection of teeth and surgery of the investing tissues. The dental surgeon should be qualified to operate on and treat fractures, cysts, diseases of the soft tissues, simple extrac- tions, and impactions. ORAL HISTOLOGY CHARLES F. BODECKER D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry EDMUND APPLEBAUM D.D.S. Assistant Professor of Dentistry WILLIAM LEFKOWITZ D.D.S. Assistant in Dent str ORAL ANATOMY MOSES DIAMOND Associate Professor of Dentistry JACOB ERDREICH D.M.D. Assistant in Dentistry HERBERT D. AYERS. JR. A.B.. D.D.S. Assistant in De