How dentistry has developed over the last 300 years
By Suntree Dental: Paul Christianson DDS
06/18/2017
When you visit a modern dental surgery, its hard to imagine the
challenges of dental treatment without all the latest technology.
Yet specialists have been taking care of peoples teeth for thousands of years.
Here are some of the key developments over the last 300 years.
1723: French surgeon Pierre Fauchard – credited as being the father of
modern dentistry – publishes the first book to describe a comprehensive
system for the practice of dentistry.
1760: John Baker, the earliest medically-trained dentist to practice in America, immigrates from England and sets up practice.
1790: John Greenwood adapts his mothers foot treadle spinning wheel to rotate a drill.
1790: Josiah Flagg, a prominent American dentist, constructs the first chair made specifically for dental patients.
1832: James Snell invents the first reclining dental chair.
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.
1880s: The collapsible metal tube revolutionizes toothpaste manufacturing and marketing.
1890: Willoughby Miller notes the microbial basis of dental decay in a
book which started a world-wide movement to promote regular
toothbrushing and flossing.
1896: New Orleans dentist C. Edmond Kells takes the first dental x-ray of a living person in the U.S.
1938: The nylon toothbrush, the first made with synthetic bristles, appears on the market.
1945: The water fluoridation era begins when the cities of Newburgh, New
York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, add sodium fluoride to their public
water systems.
1950s: The first fluoride toothpastes are marketed.
1960: The first commercial electric toothbrush, developed in Switzerland
after World War II, is introduced in the United States. A cordless,
rechargeable model follows in 1961.
About This Author
Suntree Dental: Paul Christianson DDS
At Suntree Dental: Paul Christianson DDS dentist office in Rockledge FL, your smile is our top priority. Dr. Paul Christianson & entire team is dedicated to providing you with the personalized, gentle care that you deserve. Part of our commitment to serving our patients includes providing inform…
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