Dentistry in ancient Rome
Dentistry developed during the early parts of Roman history, which may be due to the arrival of a Greek doctor named Archagathus.
The Twelve Tables—the set of legislation forming the basis of Roman law—mention teeth laden with gold,[4] implying that dentistry had been practiced at this point in history.
Other evidence includes the finding of prosthetic materials designed to treat dental and oral health conditions in Roman cities such as Teano.
There may have been medical specialists trained to perform dental procedures, it is also possible that dentistry was practiced as a subset of other professions, such as barbery.
However, the same evidence indicated that Late Antique Romans suffered from higher rates of anterior teeth decay, possibly due to non-dietary factors.
[11] Scribonius Largus, a 1st-century Roman physician, claims Messalina—the wife of Emperor Claudius—used toothpaste made from mastic, salammoniac, and calcified stag horns.
Toothpicks, known to the Romans as dentiscalpia, were also used for teeth cleaning; they were typically made of lentisk wood, although in some cases quill or gold were used instead.
[15] Cicero, a 1st-century BCE Roman politician, mentions a law forbidding corpses from being buried with gold, unless they had golden dental implants.
[4] Doctor of dental surgery and historian Bernhard Wolf Weinberger believed that such legislation indicated that golden implants were common, as otherwise he argues there would have been no need to specify it as an exception.
[17][18] Archaeological evidence of false Roman teeth dating to the 1st or 2nd century was possibly unearthed in a Gallo-Roman necropolis by the hamlet of Chantambre in Essonne, France.
Certain sections of the implant are more oxidized than other areas; the researchers believe this discrepancy indicates that the piece may have been forged through hammering and folding.
[22] The 2nd-century CE Roman surgeon Galen stated that the human body contained 32 teeth divided equally between the upper and lower jaw.
[27] Galen distinguished between diseases of the root and of the pulp in his work De ossibus, the same text in which he also identified the medical issue of a toothache.
[15] Treatments for toothaches were popular and widely desired due to the intense pain and dental decay this condition caused.
[32] Archaeological evidence from the house of Julius Polybius in Pompeii revealed that amongst 11 skulls and 145 teeth, only 2 osteolytic lesions and 10 caries were identified.
[38] Many of the teeth likely had the soft part of their carious sections removed prior to surgical treatment, leaving the cavities uniquely round or circular.
[40] Similar studies on other rural Roman communities have found high rates of periodontitis, caries, periapical cavities, calculus, and tooth decay.
[41][42] Menaeum, an ancient Roman community in Sicily, suffered from high rates of caries and calculus likely due to protein and carbohydrate-rich diets.
[43] However, evidence from the necropolis near Vallerano revealed low rates of caries amongst it sample likely due to a primarily agricultural diet centered around products.
[44] External stressors can lead to tooth decay by disrupting enamel development creating Wilson bands, a deformed type of Striae of Retzius.
[51] The danger of this practice also resulted in it becoming rare;[2] Celsus cautions physicians against the technique, advising that it should only be employed in herbal remedies had failed to address the issue.
[31] Ancient Roman medical writers believed that teeth could become loose due to root weakness or gum disease.
[57][58] Pedanius Dioscorides, a 1st-century Greek physician, documented herbal remedies that functioned as drugs for gum disease and toothaches.
[59] As early as the 7th century BC, Etruscans in northern Italy made partial dentures out of human or other animal teeth fastened together with gold bands.
