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Subjects | Fact sheet | Samples
Science and technology: Sample chronology
Dentistry
c. 2600 BC Egyptian dentist Neferites is the first to make artificial teeth. They are made of ivory and held in place by gold or silver ligaments. He also uses resin as a filling.
c. 80 An epigram of the Roman poet Martial shows that false teeth are used in Rome.
100 The Syrian physician Archigenese invents a miniature drill for penetrating decayed teeth and removing diseased tissue from within them.
1498 The Chinese invent the toothbrush in its modern form – until now only toothpicks have been used for dental hygiene.
1530 A manual of dentistry is published at Leipzig, Germany – the first methodical approach to the subject.
1580 The first academic courses in dentistry begin at the University of Paris, France.
1582 French physician Urbain Hémand writes Researches Upon the Anatomy of the Teeth, one of the earliest methodical investigations into the subject.
1699 An edict of the French king Louis XIV introduces professional examinations for dentists, administered by the Paris College of Surgeons.
1728 French surgeon Pierre Fauchard publishes Le chirugien dentiste ou traite des dents/The Dental Surgeon, or Treatise on the Teeth, the first work to consider dentistry as a separate field of medicine.
1771 Scottish surgeon John Hunter publishes The Natural History of the Human Teeth, an influential work on dental anatomy and disease.
1788 Artificial teeth made from porcelain are introduced in France by Nicolas Dubois de Chemant.
c. 1790 US dentist John Greenwood improves the dental drill.
1790 US dentist Josiah Flagg builds the first dentist's chair.
1817 False teeth made of porcelain are introduced in the USA.
1828 Amalgam, an alloy of mercury and silver, is used to fill teeth for the first time.
1832 Reclining dentists' chairs are first introduced, in England, designed by the English surgeon James Snell.
1839 The world's first dental school is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
1844 US dentist Horace Wells uses nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic to perform painless dental operations. In January 1845 he gives a demonstration in which the patient proves unresponsive.
30 September 1846 US dentist William Thomas Morton gives the first successful demonstration of ether as an anaesthetic during a dental operation to extract a tooth. He uses it in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 October, to anaesthetize a patient while removing a tumour from his neck.
1858 The first powered dental drill is constructed. Invented by US inventor James Beall Morrison, it is driven by a foot pedal.
1858 The Odontological Society of London establishes the first dental school in Great Britain. The College of Dentists of England establishes another school the following year.
1871 The swivel dentist's chair is invented in the USA.
1872 US dentist Alexander Morrison invents the pneumatic dentist's chair which can be tilted back.
1874 Fluorides are discovered to prevent tooth decay.
1875 Dental cement, containing zinc oxyphosphate, becomes widely available; it is the forerunner of modern dental cements.
1875 US dentist George Green patents the electric dental drill.
1878 The British Parliament passes the first Dentists' Act and establishes the General Medical Council, which is responsible for registering qualified dental surgeons.
1880 US dentist Norman Kingsley publishes procedures for treating irregularly positioned teeth, thus founding orthodontics.
1890 US dentist C H Land invents the porcelain crown for teeth.
1890 US dentist Willoughby Dayton Miller correctly identifies the micro-organism involved in tooth decay.
September 1938 DuPont markets the first nylon toothbrush, Dr West's Miracle Tuft Toothbrush, in Arlington, New Jersey.
1957 US dentist Robert Birden develops a high-speed (350,000 rpm) dental drill.
1967 Results of a 20-year fluoridation project, conducted in Evanston, Illinois, indicate that fluoride added to the water supply has reduced cavities by 58%.
c. 1971–c. 1980 Compressed air turbines begin to replace electric dental drills.
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