Portrayals of Dentistry in the 17th Century

I had the privilege to get a chipped filling extracted from my gingiva and to have the filling re-done earlier today, in a process that was about as fun as, well, getting an enamel chip dug out of your gums and then getting a large filling right over the seriously-inflamed gumline.

Of course, as much as I piss and moan about how much it hurt, my pain is nothing compared to people in the 17th century. Well, at least according to the artists of the era. There seems to have been a particular interest in the pain inflicted by the dentists and barber-surgeons of the time, and the fascination of the people around the “patient” in the apparent misery they’re going through.

Dentists were largely seen as below barber-surgeons until the very late 1600s-early 1700s, when one Pierre Fauchard took massive steps towards legitimization of the profession.

Top: “The Dentist” Gerard van Honthorst, 1622.
Center Left: “The Quackdoctor” Jan Steen, 1651.
Center Right: “The Extraction of Tooth” Gerard Dou, ca. 1630-1635.
Bottom: “The Toothpuller” Caravaggio (probable), ca. 1608-1610.

biomedicalephemera:

This crazy radioactive toothpaste was made at the end of WWII, through to about 1950 or so.  Auergesellschaft (a company that produced thorium for gas mantles and the German war effort) wanted to expand into the cosmetics and hygiene industry, and the Atomic Age was upon them. They reasoned:

 Radium had already been used in toothpaste (Radiogen), why not use thorium instead? Auer had the patent, and with the thorium in hand they were ready to hit the ground running. They even formulated the following potential advertisement: “Use toothpaste with thorium! Have sparkling, brilliant teeth—radioactive brilliance!”

On the toothpaste tube:

What Does Doramad Do?

Its radioactive radiation increases the defenses of teeth and gums. The cells are loaded with new life energy, the bacteria are hindered in their destroying effect. This explains the excellent prophylaxis and healing process with gingival diseases. It gently polishes the dental enamel so it turns white and shiny. Prevents dental calculus. Wonderful lather and a new, pleasant, mild and refreshing taste. Can be applied sparingly.

New York Quinine and Chemical Works advertisements.

These ads were targeted towards pharmacists and smaller third-party patent medicine manufacturers. While quinine inclusion was generally indicated on the end product, substances such as cocaine and morphine almost never were, until the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. In addition to what one would think of as “vegetable” ingredients, such as, say, the willow tree bark that was the precursor to aspirin, both cocaine and morphine were also considered “vegetable” products - neither of them were truly synthetically produced, since their starting point came from plants.

[The Pharmaceutical Era. 1893.]