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

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PROSTHETICS WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry HAROLD S. WOODRUFF D.D.S. Instructor in Dentistry NORMAN W. BOYD B.S.. D.D.S. Assistant in Dentistry HARRY A. YOUNG D.D.S. Assistant Prof, of Dentistry JOHN F. RALSTON D.D.S. Assistant Prof, of Dentistry EARLE B. HOYT D.D.S. Associate Professor of Dentistry GILBERT P. SMITH MORRELL D. McKENZIE D.D.S. D.D.S. Assistant Prof, of Dentistry Instructor in Dentistry HENRY JUNEMANN A.B., D.D.S. Instructor in D- - VICTOR PERRONE A.B., D.D.S. Assistant in Dentistry D. j. w. Mclaughlin D.D.S. Assstjnt Professor ol

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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

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ON the day that a member of some ancient race conceived the idea of shaping an artifical tooth from the tooth of an animal and by means of wire attaching it to the remaining natural teeth as a substitute for one that had been lost, pros- thetic dentistry had its inception. That was many years ago. Since then prosthetics has been con- stantly refined and improved throughout the years. It was many years before the mineral tooth was invented. As we have it today, its perfection is but a development of this century. The original method of attachment was gold wire. It is still employed today as a chief means for fixation of partials. Instead of the original elastic wire that was fastened by twisting there has developed the clasp. This has been modified by a system of male and female spring attachments but these are essentially clasps. Dentures were at first constructed upon bases carved from wood, bone, or ivory. Natural teeth and artificial teeth carved from walrus bone were used. The techniques were unrefined and left much to be desired. Little consideration was paid to fit or harmony of any sort. The awkward spiral intermaxillary springs were used for re- tention and separation of the dentures. Such important factors as facial contour and tooth pro- portion received scant consideration. With the discovery of new materials and pro- cedure, prosthetics took on a different aspect. The use of plaster eliminated much of the haphazard- ness of impression taking. The vulcanization of rubber for denture bases and the use of atmos- pheric pressure for retention aided materially in efficiency. The old swaged metal base was thus replaced. But later with the discovery of the cast- ing process, metal was revived again. Today a combination of materials are used. . . . The evolu- tion of the articulator from the plain line hinge joint in 1805 to the various present day intricate anatomical articulators characterizes the growth of prosthetics. Out of a long record of trials and error s, successes and failures, have been distilled fundamental principles. As Dr. Rowe once put it, There has been a gradual evolution of the practice of prosthesis to the science of prosthesis. The premise that the degree of efficiency of a restoration must be determined by the extent to which the biologic equation has been satisfied may well be considered an established principle. Changes in technique that may develop in the ex- emplification of this principle are more apt to be coincident with progress than those changes of the past that were based on empiricism. JURISPRUDENCE AND ETHICS HENRY W. GILLETT D.M.D. Professor of Dentistry WILLIAM B. DUNNING D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry ORAL PATHOLOGY LESTER R. CAHN D.D.S. Associate Professor of Dentistry HENRY A. BARTELS B.S., D.D.S. Assistant Prof, of Dentistry ROBERT ALEXANDER B.S., D.D.S. Assistant in Dentistry