1801—Richard C. Skinner writes the Treatise on the Human Teeth, the first dental book published in America.

  1825—Samuel Stockton begins commercial manufacture of porcelain teeth. His S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company establishes and dominates the dental supply market throughout the 19th century.

1832—James Snell invents the first reclining dental chair.

1833–1850—The Crawcours (two brothers from France) introduce amalgam filling material in the United States under the name Royal Mineral Succedaneum. The brothers are charlatans whose unscrupulous methods spark the “amalgam wars,” a bitter controversy within the dental profession over the use of amalgam fillings.

1839—The American Journal of Dental Science, the world’s first dental journal, begins publication.

1839—Charles Goodyear invents the vulcanization process for hardening rubber. The resulting Vulcanite, an inexpensive material easily molded to the mouth, makes an excellent base for false teeth, and is soon adopted for use by dentists. In 1864 the molding process for vulcanite dentures is patented, but the dental profession fights the onerous licensing fees for the next twenty-five years.

1840—Horace Hayden and Chapin Harris establish the world’s first dental school, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, and originate the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. (The school merges with the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in 1923).

1840—The American Society of Dental Surgeons, the world’s first national dental organization, is founded. (The organization dissolves in 1856.)

1841—Alabama enacts the first dental practice act, regulating dentistry in the United States.

1844—Horace Wells, a Connecticut dentist, discovers that nitrous oxide can be used as an anesthesia and successfully uses it to conduct several extractions in his private practice. He conducts the first public demonstration of its use as an anesthetic in 1845 but the demonstration is generally considered a failure after the patient cries out during the operation. In 1846, another dentist (and a student of Wells), William Morton, takes credit for the discovery when he conducts the first successful public demonstration of the use of ether as an anesthesia for surgery. Crawford Long, a physician, later claims he used ether as an anesthetic in an operation as early as 1842, but he did not publish his work.

1855—Robert Arthur originates the cohesive gold foil method allowing dentists to insert gold into a cavity with minimal pressure. The foil is fabricated by annealing, a process of passing gold through a flame making it soft and malleable.

1859—Twenty-six dentists meet in Niagara Falls, New York, and form the American Dental Association. (See the ADA Timeline for more information).

1864— Sanford C. Barnum, develops the rubber dam, a simple device made of a piece of elastic rubber fitted over a tooth by means of weights, which solves the problem of isolating a tooth from the oral cavity.

1866—Lucy Beaman Hobbs graduates from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, becoming the first woman to earn a dental degree.

1867—The Harvard University Dental School, the first university-affiliated dental institution, is founded. The school calls its degree the Dentariae Medicinae Doctorae (DMD), creating a continuing semantic controversy (DDS vs. DMD).

1869—Dr. Robert Tanner Freeman, graduating from Harvard University Dental School, becomes the first African-American to earn a dental degree.

1871—James B. Morrison patents the first commercially manufactured foot-treadle dental engine. Morrison’s inexpensive, mechanized tool supplies dental burs with enough speed to cut enamel and dentin smoothly and quickly, revolutionizing the practice of dentistry.

1871—The American George F. Green receives a patent for the first electric dental engine, a self-contained motor and handpiece.

1877—The Wilkerson chair, the first pump-type hydraulic dental chair, is introduced.

1880s—The collapsible metal tube revolutionizes toothpaste manufacturing and marketing. Dentifrice had been available only in liquid or powder form, usually made by individual dentists, and sold in bottles, porcelain pots, or paper boxes. Tube toothpaste, in contrast, is mass-produced in factories, mass-marketed, and sold nation-wide. In twenty years, it becomes the norm.

1880—Twenty-eight dental schools are established by this year.

1887—Stowe & Eddy Dental Laboratory, the first successful industrial-type laboratory in the U.S., opens in Boston, marking the ascendancy of the modern commercial dental laboratory. The earliest known dental laboratory in the U.S. was Sutton & Raynor which opened in New York City around 1854.

1890—Ida Gray, the first African-American woman to earn a dental degree, graduates from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.

1890—Willoughby Miller an American dentist in Germany, notes the microbial basis of dental decay in his book Micro-Organisms of the Human Mouth. This generates an unprecedented interest in oral hygiene and starts a world-wide movement to promote regular toothbrushing and flossing.

1890—Almost 100 dental societies are established by this year.

1895—Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, discovers the x-ray. In 1896 prominent New Orleans dentist C. Edmond Kells takes the first dental x-ray of a living person in the U.S.

1899—Edward Hartley Angle classifies the various forms of malocclusion. Credited with making orthodontics a dental specialty, Angle also establishes the first school of orthodontics (Angle School of Orthodontia in St. Louis, 1900), the first orthodontic society (American Society of Orthodontia, 1901), and the first dental specialty journal (American Orthodontist, 1907).

500-1000—During the Early Middle Ages in Europe medicine, surgery, and dentistry, are generally practiced by monks, the most educated people of the period

700—A medical text in China mentions the use of “silver paste,” a type of amalgam.

1130-1163—A series of Papal edicts prohibit monks from performing any type of surgery, bloodletting or tooth extraction. Barbers often assisted monks in their surgical ministry because they visited monasteries to shave the heads of monks and the tools of the barber trade—sharp knives and razors—were useful for surgery. After the edicts, barbers assume the monks’ surgical duties: bloodletting, lancing abscesses, extracting teeth, etc.

1210—A Guild of Barbers is established in France. Barbers eventually evolve into two groups: surgeons who were educated and trained to perform complex surgical operations; and lay barbers, or barber-surgeons, who performed more routine hygienic services including shaving, bleeding and tooth extraction.

1400s—A series of royal decrees in France prohibit lay barbers from practicing all surgical procedures except bleeding, cupping, leeching, and extracting teeth.

1530—The Little Medicinal Book for All Kinds of Diseases and Infirmities of the Teeth (Artzney Buchlein), the first book devoted entirely to dentistry, is published in Germany. Written for barbers and surgeons who treat the mouth, it covers practical topics such as oral hygiene, tooth extraction, drilling teeth, and placement of gold fillings.

1575—In France Ambrose Pare, known as the Father of Surgery, publishes his Complete Works. This includes practical information about dentistry such as tooth extraction and the treatment of tooth decay and jaw fractures.

Overview

Natural rubber latex is a common ingredient found in many consumer products, such as balloons, balls, appliance cords, hoses, hot water bottles, pacifiers, swimwear, toys, tires, condoms, rubber bands and shoes. Latex also can be found in many medical or dental supplies and devices, such as masks, gloves, syringes, catheters, dressings, tape and bandages.

Unlike some consumer goods made from synthetic (manmade) latex, such as house paint, natural rubber latex is derived from a milky substance found in rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis).

While many people come in safe contact with latex-containing products every day, some susceptible individuals have developed hypersensitivity to proteins derived from natural rubber latex, which can cause allergic reactions.

Causes and Symptoms

Latex allergy generally develops after repeated exposure to products containing natural rubber latex. When latex-containing medical devices or supplies come in contact with mucous membranes, the membranes may absorb latex proteins. The immune system of some susceptible individuals produces antibodies that react immunologically with these antigenic proteins.

This is a concern particularly for health care workers who are constantly exposed to latex examination or surgical gloves and other latex-based health care products. The powder used on latex gloves can absorb the gloves’ latex proteins and cause increased exposure to latex. In addition, as the gloves are removed, the powder may become airborne, coming in contact with the eyes, nose or mouth.

When exposed to latex proteins, a latex-sensitive individual, whether a health care worker or a patient, may experience minor symptoms, such as hives or nasal congestion. Severe cases may result in anaphylaxis, a dangerous systemic reaction that causes a drop in blood pressure, difficulty breathing, swelling of the throat, tongue and nose, and even loss of consciousness and could be life-threatening if unattended. Emergency medical attention is needed at the first sign of anaphylactic reaction.
Please alert your local dentist so they can take the necessary precaution if you are allergic to latex.

Proper nutrition and dental health are indeed intimately linked. Malnutrition has long been linked to common dental health problems, including:

Tooth decay
Gingivitis
Advanced Periodontal Disease
Halitosis
Thus, before focusing on fancy dental health products that are supposedly the new space-aged cure-all for dental health and oral hygiene concerns, it is important to get the basics right. This may be considered to be alternative dental health care by some dentists and medical professionals who tend to focus most education efforts on good oral hygiene practices. However, nutrition is the foundation of dental health and oral hygiene is the complement.

To this end, it is important to focus on fluoride intake. Almost all dental health information released in the past 3 generations points to the importance of fluoride in the prevention of the most common dental problems-cavities.

If you ingest a single milligram of fluoride every day since the day you were born, the odds of having tooth decay decreases by an estimated 50-60%. This is because fluoride is particularly important when teeth are developing because it will literally increase the strength of the tooth and its surrounding enamel as the teeth are mineralizing.

Welcome to the website and blog of Drs. Kowal and MacIlwaine. We have been happy to serve the Richmond Virginia community since 1984. Prior to starting the practice here, both Drs. were trained in many phases of medicine while attending a residency program at East Carolina Medical School. It is from this experience that the Drs. developed a deep appreciation for the relationship between dental health and overall health. While there, they also received training from many dental specialists, including children’s dentists, and oral surgeons. From this, they developed expertise in treating children, and also the foundation which would lead them into placing implants. They also worked with many Senior patients, even going into nursing homes to provide care.

The Drs. have also received special training in cosmetic veneers and “Lumineers”. Residency training as well as training since then has pertained to overall health, and has led to their interest in Wellness.

 

In future blog postings, there will be discussions on these topics and many more. We look forward to sharing these with you and hearing from you as well. Here’s to your health!