Last Updated on 27th July 2022
Modern dentistry is nothing like it used to be – even 20 years ago, explain the dentists at Evesham Dental Health Team on Broadway Road. Today, dental care is more comfortable, advanced and can completely transform your smile for the better. But it wasn’t always this way…
- Proper dentists didn’t exist until the 1800s and ‘dentistry’ was carried out by blacksmiths and barbers. Tens of thousands of people died from botched treatment, infections and other complications.
- In the early 20th century having all your teeth removed was considered the perfect gift for a 21st birthday or a newly married bride, to spare them from a lifetime of pain.
- Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body. According to the Mohs Hardness Scale, tooth enamel earns a 5, making it as hard as steel.
- The first toothbrushes were tree twigs. Chewing on the tips of the twigs spread out the fibres, which were then used to clean the teeth.
- Ancient Greeks used pumice, talc, alabaster, coral powder or iron rust as toothpaste.
- The average woman smiles 62 times a day while the average man smiles about eight. The average four-year-old laughs 300 times a day – the average 40-year-old just four.
- Dentures date back to 2500 BC when they were made from animal teeth, sometimes from wolves. The first recorded wooden dentures appeared in Japan in the 16th century and became widely used until the 20th century!
- US President George Washington is famously known for his dentures, which, in the 1780s, were made with ivory from hippos and elephants as well as gold, rivets, spiral springs and human teeth.
- Grave robbers could make today’s equivalent of £10,000 a night by stealing teeth from corpses, which were used to make dentures.
- A snail’s mouth is no larger than the head of a pin but it can contain more than 25,000 teeth.
- The plover or ‘crocodile bird’ flies into the open mouth of a crocodile and, using his sharp little beak like a toothpick, removes bits of meat from between crocodiles’ teeth.
- Just like your fingerprints, your tooth and tongue prints are totally unique.
To experience advanced dentistry with a difference, contact us.
