Dentistry in the History of Art and Civilization

Toothache as a human ailment has a history as old as that of mankind itself. If we know little of its preand carly history, we know equally little about dental afflictions and methods of treatment in the millennia, which clude investigation owing to the extreme paucity of the documentary evidence which has come down to us. Looking back we can only say that from the treatment of toothworm in Mesopotamia to modern carics prophylaxis and dental prosthetics it has been a long and difficult way, in the coursc of which dentistry, which for centuries did not exist as an independent discipline, but as a field incorporated in medicine and surgery, soared to scientific heights. The great turning point undoubtedly occurred at the beginning of the 18th century, when Pierre Fauchard summarized all that was then known about dentistry and pioneered recognition of the fact, that manual technique must be allowed ample scope within the framework of the practical pursuit of the profession. The history of dentistry can look back over a series of epoch-making monographs. Let it suftice here to mention the names of Karl Sudhoff, Bernhard W. Weinberger, Walter Hoffmann-Axthelm and Placido Micheloni. The authors owe it to their works that they had the scientific framework, into which they could fit the pictorial material. It was not the intention of the authors to give a refurbished — and preferably complete — descriptive survey of the history of dentistry. They saw their task much more as the provision of documentation, which by means of illustrations would show on the one hand the development of the scientific discipline ‘dentistry’ and on the other hand that of its social status in art and civilization. We should also like to express our thanks to the following people and institutions, without whose help this book could not have been produced: American Dental Association, Chicago; Bavarian State Library, Munich; Bavarian State Picture Gallery, Munich; Bego, Wilh. Herbst GMBH & Co., Bremen; Akiro Beppu, Tokyo; Blendax-Werke, Mainz; Library of the State University of Leiden, The Netherlands; Mrs. M. A. Clenett and Mr. P. Narain, British Dental Assocation, London; Bundesverband der Deutschen Zahnärzte (West German Dental Association), Cologne; Butler Company, Chicago; Cadmos, Milan; Castellini S.p.A, Castel Maggiore, Italy; Mr. Cooper, Liverpool; Mr. Hüttmann, Firma De Trey, Wiesbaden; Deutsche Gesellschaft für zahnärztliche Implantologie e.V. (German Society for Dental Implantation), Bremen; German Röntgen Museum, Remscheid, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG); Feldmühle AG., Plochingen, FRG; Brenda Fox, Uxbridge, Canada; Germanic National Museum, Nuremberg; Goethe National Museum, Weimar; Walter Hoffmann-Axthelm, Freiburg; Johnson & Johnson, Norderstedt, FRG; KaVo, Biberach/Riss, FRG; Yoshio Kancda, Tokyo; Prof. Peter Tetsch, Clinic of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz; Kamal S. Kolta, Munich; Kulzer & Co, Friedrichsdorf, German Democratic Republic, Georg Lutz, Rome; Yatsu Mitsuo, Matsudo, Japan; Yun Morikawa, Hiroshima, Japan; Etruscan Muscum, Rome; Mr. and Mrs. Muchan, Temple University, Philadelphia; Haruo Nagagak:, Leeds: Pelton & Crane, North Carolina; Ritter AG, Karlsruhe; Prof. F. E. Hopper and Mr. J. Weatherell, School of Dentistry, University of Leeds; Mr. R. Batchelor, Scaence Museum, London; Mr. Hufgard and Mr. Langenegger, Siemens AG, Bensheim. FRG; Mrs. A. Davis and Mr. E. Jackson, Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Mr. Spranz, Frciburg; State Graphic Collection, Munich; Stoma, Tuttlingen, FRG; Mr. W. M. Schupbach, The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London; Mrs. Dupont, The New York Academy of Medicine Library, New York; Trinity College, Cambridge; Université Claude-Bernard, Lyon; University of Maryland, Baltimore; Paul Unschuld, Munich; John M. Whittock, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Mr. G. J. van Wiggem, Dental Institute of the State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. The authors arc especially indebted to Mr. Bernd Nichusen and Mr. Egon Peters (Bundesverband der Deutschen Zahnärzte, Cologne), Mrs. Linda Krebs and Mrs. Dagny Gulbransson; and Mr. Erich Steingräber and Mr. Christian Lenz in Munich. Munich Heinz E. Lässig Rainer A. Müller born in 1936 in Albemau, studied dentistry and medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau, Hamburg and Rome. 1960-1962 Chairman ot Dental Association of Federation of German Student Unions; 1963 post-graduate practical year at University of Leeds; 1964-1973 worked in Rome; since 1971 his own dental practice in Munich. Various scientific publications. RAINER A. MÜLLER, bom in 1944 in the Sauerland, is lecturer in mediaeval and modem history at the University of Munich. As well as studies on general and social history, also author ot works on medical history: Der Arzt im Schachspiel hei Jakob van Cessolis, Studium und Studenten an der Medrzi nischen Fakultät der Uruwersieit Ingolstadt an 18, Jahrhunden.