Today we take a look at a device that helped with Victorian dentistry.
www.kentdelordhouse.org/
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at an item from Fannie Delord Webb Hall’s apothecary. This is a Victorian tooth or dental key. Fannie treated the poor of Plattsburgh, and we able to help people through a myriad of different medical problems, including dentistry. Let’s learn a bit more about the dental or tooth key, and Victorian dentistry.
Dentistry has been practiced by the Egyptians, Etruscans, Indian, Chinese, Greeks, and Romans, and pretty much every other early society. There is a Sumerian text from over 7,000 years ago that states that tooth decay is caused by “tooth worms.” In the Middle Ages in Europe, a Guild of Barbers was 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. In 1723 Pierre Fauchard, a French surgeon publishes The Surgeon Dentist, A Treatise on Teeth. Fauchard is credited as being the Father of Modern Dentistry because his book was the first to describe a comprehensive system for the practice of dentistry including basic oral anatomy and function, operative and restorative techniques, and denture construction. In 1883 the National Association of Dental Examiners is founded by the members of the dental boards of several states in order to establish uniform standards in the qualifications for dental practitioners, the administration of dental boards overseeing licensing and the legislation of dental practice acts.
According to the Science Museum Group, “Dental keys or tooth keys were introduced in the early 1700s and became the instrument of choice for tooth pulling from the 1770s onwards. They remained in common use until the beginning of the twentieth century. These early examples look like a door key from the same period. The claw was placed over the top of the tooth and the bolster, the long metal rod to which the claw is attached, was placed against the root of the tooth. The key was then turned as if the user were opening a lock and the tooth would hopefully be removed - although dental keys were notorious for causing injury. Often the tooth key would remove the tooth, but could leave portions of the root behind. They did have other tools to remove the roots, but if any was left behind, it could cause an infection, and there were no antibiotics to treat the patient. Undoubtedly this operation was extremely painful for the patient, who probably had to be restrained. Tooth pulling was carried out by a range of people including barber-surgeons and traveling practitioners and was the most common
remedy for diseased teeth.
Our tooth or dental key is in good condition, but it is not going to be used any time soon. I think we can all agree that the tooth key can stay in the past, and we can appreciate modern dentistry. It is a fascinating glimpse into previous medical practices, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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