The Scoop MARCH 2017 | Page 20

March 6th is Dentist’s Day.

We all know about dentists, and many of us that have one avoid them out of fear or anxiety. But dentistry actually used to be a lot scarier. The history of dentistry houses many medieval practices that make us shudder and thank modern day sanitation and healthcare.

Dentistry has ancient origins reaching as far back as 5000 BC. An Egyptian man named Hesy-Re is believed to be the first dentist. In Ancient Greece, Aristotle and Hippocrates wrote about dentistry. Hippocrates would come to be known as the author of the Hippocratic Oath, an oath that physicians swear by when practicing to do no harm. About 200 years later, Celsus, a significantly less famous Greek philosopher, wrote more extensive manuscripts about tooth health.

Then came the Middle Ages, where dentistry turned from mostly academic writings into the beginnings of a profession. These early dentists weren’t called dentists, though. Believe it or not, dentists used to be barbers. There were two types of barbers: those who performed surgery and more complex operations, and lay-barbers, who did more mundane things like shaving and tooth extraction. The former were the early forms of surgeons, and the latter were the precursors of modern dentists.