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Almost exactly 175 years ago, on September 30, 1846, the first time a human tooth was extracted under anesthesia. The patient was anesthetized with ether, and this historic procedure was performed by the American dentist William Morton. The event was then widely commented on in the world of science, as it changed the face of medicine to a large extent.
- In 1846, the American dentist William Morton removed a patient’s tooth after putting him to sleep with ether. After this incident, ether began to be widely used as an anesthetic
- In antiquity and the Middle Ages, many methods of treatment and tooth extraction were used, but most of them were ineffective, and in the worst cases – dangerous to the health and life of the patient.
- Teeth were usually pulled out by craftsmen – blacksmiths or barbers. Herbs were used to relieve pain, they were put to sleep with poppy seeds or… the patient was stunned with a blow to the head
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However, before anyone started working on making dental procedures as comfortable for the patient as possible, the treatment (especially tooth extraction) resembled real torture. It is difficult to imagine today how teeth were cleaned, cavities were replaced and teeth were extracted in antiquity or the Middle Ages. Seeking help from a blacksmith, stunning a patient with a blow to the head, or putting to sleep with a poppy seed – it’s still nothing. The worst thing was that such procedures often ended tragically for patientswhich the pseudodentists and wandering “medics” of the time were not necessarily on their minds. Their skill relied almost entirely on dexterity of their hands, and hygiene was by no means a priority.
The procedure performed by William Morton on September 30, 1846 was successful. The patient, awakened from anesthesia, was to state in front of the witnesses that he felt no pain. A few weeks later, Morton demonstrated his method at Massachusetts General Hospital. This time, the patient underwent surgery to remove the tumor from the neck after the administration of ether. This procedure was also successful, and ether has since become widely used as an anesthetic.
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Herbs and bread, chewed by mice
Attempts to treat teeth were made in antiquity. At that time, however, mainly herbs were used to relieve pain and stop hemorrhages. People also believed in the miraculous power of strange drugs, such as bread chewed by mice, which supposedly soothes toothache. Human urine was also added to the analgesic mixtures, believing in its healing effects. However, it is said that the ancient Egyptians made the first attempts to prosthesize their teeth, and the Chinese treated abscesses by puncturing them and removing their contents. Prostheses made of natural animal teeth or of precious stones were also used.
- See also: Plants valued by dentists
The haemorrhages were stabbed with snake venom
What if a tooth extraction was necessary? The father of medicine, Hippocrates, recommended a tooth extraction only when the tooth was moving enough to be removed from the mouth with your fingers. The same Hippocrates was to recommend cleaning the teeth … with ash powder from the head of a hare and three mice. The Chinese, on the other hand, pulled out teeth that did not move, putting patients to sleep with decoctions of herbs, especially poppy seeds. In complicated procedures, they used snake venom to stop hemorrhages, and acupuncture for pain relief.
The Middle Ages, on the other hand, was a time when the role of doctors, including dentists, was often taken over by craftsmen. The standard was that the teeth were extracted by a blacksmith or a hairdresser using pliers and pliers. It turned out to be not only a custom, but also a binding law. The publications of the Department of the History of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum show that for several centuries the craftsmen who performed medical procedures were associated in the guilds of surgeons. “(…) in paragraph 2 of the privileges of Zygmunt I (later confirmed by Zygmunt August), we read that the journeyman’s duties include having his own” box with razors, scissors, combs, good tools, tooth tongs, scissors, spade, bin tongs and other handicraft instruments, ”the publication wrote.
- See also: Tooth extraction – indications, course of the procedure, possible complications
He removed the tooth until the jaw fell out
It also happened that the patient was stunned with a blow to the head. After the tooth was removed, the wound was burned with red-hot iron to protect it from infections. Visits to such “dentists” often ended with bodily harm. The aforementioned publication of the Jagiellonian University cites, for example, a case of a court trial against surgeons-craftsmen from the second half of the XNUMXth century. The plaintiff in the case was a patient whose tooth was so badly torn out by the craftsman that soon a piece of bone fell out of his jaw. However, it was worse – broken bones of the skull, hemorrhages, sepsis, and even death. This is how “dental” treatments ended in the Middle Ages. Not to mention “little things”, such as having the wrong tooth extracted, which was quite common.
Weird ways to relieve pain
Toothache in the old days was a real drama. People were afraid of blacksmiths and other “ruffians”, so extraction was the last resort, against which they tried to defend themselves, looking for various potions, most often ineffective. James Wynbrandt writes about them in the book “Painful history of dentistry”, fragments of which are published by the CiekawostkiHistoryczne.pl portal. Medieval quack tips included incensing the mouth with wax candles, acorns and seeds, cutting the gums with a knife and sprinkling them with special mixtures, lubricating holes with raven manure, and therefore sore teeth, but also bloodletting, treatment with leeches, baking the skin, enemas, and even cupping.
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