DENTISTRY. The science of diseases or lesions of the teeth and adjacent organs, and the art of making and inserting appliances for the correction of loss, deformity. injury, or malposi tion of those organs. The two main branches of dentistry are prosthetic or mechanical dentistry, sometimes called prosthodontia. and operative or surgical dentistry. It is not easy to draw a distinct. line ,,r demarcation between these two branches, for inueli of the work considered to he in the province of the operative department is really pro:thclie or mechanical. and vise versa. Prosthesis in its surgical sense has been defined to he 'the addition of an artificial part to supply a defect of the body.' Many of the conditions about the month which call for treatment require on the part of the dentist an intimate knowledge of both brandies, and the treatment is both prosthetie and operative. The operation of till ing teeth, :Ind also the insertion of inlays, al though generally considered as belonging to the department of operative dentistry, are to a certain extent prosthetic. -ince they supply arti ficial substitutes for lost natural parts. Under the head of operative dentistry would come also the operations of extracting teeth. implantation, replantation, transplantation see below), 1no1 al of deposits inan about the teeth. and the treatment of the disease. or injuries of the dental organs or their surroundings. The making of artificial dentu••-, erowns, bridge work. obtu•ater.. and :111 tiela I Via is prosthet ic: but the adjustment of such appliances, or perhaps ti e preliminary treatment. may require /ill -.Mail )11111111111 01 surgical knowledge and skill. the operative denti-t must also to a certain ext(lit be lotaliti...1 a- :III oral stirg(•on. in order that he may treat some of the ordinary or injuries Nchich t.? atleet the month or maxi'.
hiry bones. The correction of irregularities of teeth and the making of :with:owes for the Fur po:-t• 1111• largek meehanical, and for that reason usually classed under the head of prosthetic dentistry. St rietly speaking. however. the opera tion not a prosthetic one. and many prefer to class this as a third branch or subdivision of dentistry. calling it orflo"lonfio. and the opera an •orthodontist.' since the duties of the dentist inelude operations not only upon the but also upon their surroundings in and about the buccal cavity, many are in favor of applying to dentistry the more comprehensive name StOnia 10/Ogy, which means 'the science of the month.' As a distinct profession, dentistry has only developed during the past century. Prior to that period. so far as we can determine, it ex isted only as a somewhat unimportant branch of the healing art : and some of the operations now considered to belong only to the domain of dentistry were then performed by the medical practitioner, or perhaps by some artisan xvlio made claim to a certain amount of proficiency in the performance of such operation.. The time
is not so long passed as to be beyond the recollee t ion of .1)1111. of the dental pract it loners now living when it Was perfectly lawful and permissible for the barber or blacksmith to perform the opera tion of extracting human teeth, and to receive a fee or award therefor, and also when it was cus tomar• for the silversmith or jeweler to make a rt i ficia I Certain branches of (1.mtistry were pra•tiVed long before the modern profession came into existence, and dental operation- were lu•rfornt•d at a very early (late in the history of civilized rations. The Romans probably acquired their dental knowledge from the Etruscans, and the Et ruse:ins and reeks from t he Egyptians. Specimens of dental work in the -hope of natural teeth bound together with gold. or artificial teeth of ivory. bone. wood or stone. attached to the natnral ones by 111•:111s of cord, or gold or silver bands or ligature-. have been found in the iaws of which were probably buried live or -ix hundred years before the Chris Era: Lot so far as we hii..W at present • there are no auth•ntie example: of tooth-tilling of equal antiquity. In writing- upon the ,ilbjeet .1..10 Irv, t sta t is not 11 that teeth of 11)11.• 1)1,11 formal lulled limit, according to the researches of \later and other-. the 1111th Of sue% slat. melds is 14 rt only to be questioned. Va II \later, who had tmnsnallv good for arch.•ologieal assert- that in his ear. fill -amity of the teeth of many of the remains taken dire•tly from excavation- of ancient tombs in Italy, and also of the teeth of 111111111111Cs in Val i011s antseunt. anti priVilt0 collections, lie NI as 1111)11)10 to find a single ex ample of it gold tilling in suell teeth. The results., of his investigation- seem to show that cases hitherto supposed to he example, of gold tilling 11001111g more or less than -peciniens of bridge-work, or perhaps the banding of teeth with guild for the support of loose ones. or to hold artificial teeth in place. .Nlan• of the speci men. film.' NV01.) SO vovered kith the accumu lated dust of centuries that it ma. impossible. hefore rcui11t ing saute of that aeminuilation, 111 tell her were exoniples of gold tilling; in the teeth, or gold bands about the teeth. It is well known that the higher order-, of 1) tian, often the mummie, of their deceased friends and to be lavishly decorated with paint and gilding, and in several instance: the supposed gold fillings in the mouth. (4 Egyp tian inumini•s have, on mere scratching knife. proved to be nothing but superficial gild ing on the natural teeth.