Early Dental Tools

Some form of dentistry has been in existence since humans first felt toothaches. Archaeological digs have uncovered dental tools dating back to 7000 BCE, to the Indus Valley civilization located in present-day Pakistan. These early dental tools were reliable and effective at removing pain. Fortunately, dental tools have improved drastically since then.

The First Dental Tool

• The bow drill was the first dental tool used to remove pain in teeth, originally thought to have been the cause of worms burrowing into the tooth. A piece of wood was bent and had a rope tied to each end, much like a bow used in archery, but smaller. A separate piece of wood, a stick sharpened at one end, was looped by the rope. The sharpened end was placed onto the tooth. One hand applied pressure onto the stick, while the other hand held the bow and with quick motions pulled and pushed it causing the center stick to swivel. The bow drill used friction and pressure to drill into the tooth. The same apparatus was also used to start fires.

The First Dental Bridge

• The dental bridge, which is used to replace a missing tooth or teeth by joining them permanently to adjacent teeth, was used by the Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization around 700 BCE. With the use of gold wire, the Etruscans held the new teeth in place by wrapping it around the adjacent teeth and threading the wire through holes drilled into the new teeth. If the tooth had been lost, replacement teeth made of ox bone, ivory or boxwood were used. The ancient Egyptians built similar dental bridges, some of which have survived to this day.

Tools used for Tooth Extraction

• By the late middle ages the most common solution for tooth decay or toothaches was extraction, or removal of the tooth. Guy de Chauliac invented the dental pelican in the 14th century which was the primary tool used for extraction until the late 18th century. The dental pelican, named such as it resembled a pelican's beak, was replaced by the dental key. It had a handle similar to that of a corkscrew. The dentist would simply hook the end of the key, akin to a claw, around the tooth and twist it out. The dental key was eventually replaced by forceps in the 20th century.

The Introduction of Modern Dental Tools

• A modern dental chair.

  In 1790 John Greenwood, one of George Washington's dentists, invented the the first dental foot engine, adapted from a foot-powered spinning wheel. The same year, the first dentist chair (a simple wooden Windsor chair with a headrest attached) was also introduced. Nitrous oxide was first used as an anesthetic in the mid 19th century. The first electrical dental engine was invited in 1871 by George F. Green, and the porcelain crown was devised by Charles Land in 1903. Improvements in dental hygiene, comfort for toothache suffered, and advancements in dentistry have continued since then.