Presently, false teeth in the form of bridges or dentures are generally indistinguishable from real teeth. Modern technology has allowed dentists to offer an aesthetically pleasing alternative to tooth loss. This wasn't always the case, though, as many of us have heard of the famous wooden teeth worn by President George Washington. His teeth were not actually made of wood because the corrosive properties of saliva would almost immediately begin to breakdown the wood. In fact, his denture consisted of mostly teeth extracted from human and animal corpses.
George Washington's False Teeth
Even before George Washington's time, dentists began attempting aesthetic restorations. Various ancient civilizations used ivory or bone to carve new teeth. This procedure fell out of practice until the mid 1800's. Damaged teeth were just extracted and gaps were left untouched. If the tooth was necessary, silk threads or coiled wire were used to hold the new tooth in place. Generally, old extracted teeth that were placed in the mouth rotted quickly. Those of a higher class tended to opt for teeth made of gold, silver, or ivory.
Finally, in 1774, two Frenchman (a dentist and a pharmacist) designed a set of porcelain teeth. This procedure was improved upon by an Italian dentist who created a porcelain tooth with a platinum pin (not unlike today's modern implants). These teeth made it to America in 1822 where they were continually toyed with until the modern technology was invented which includes teeth made of plastic or ceramic.
Source:http://www.knowyourteeth.com/infobites/abc/article/?abc=h&iid=305&aid=1256
R. Eric Emery, DDS
Smile Station Dental
2901 Dougherty Ferry Rd, Suite 400
St. Louis, MO 63122
(314)821-7100
smilestationdental.com
Like us on Facebook!
No comments:
Post a Comment