Dentistry
A First World War dentist working at a Casualty Clearing Station near Ypres, Belgium.
Credits:Wellcome Library, London.
Medical practitioners have often looked to other branches of medicine for solutions to problems they might be experiencing. Innovations in dentistry have been influential in other fields of medical practice, particularly orthopaedics.
Plastic has been used for many years in dentistry to make dental prostheses and false teeth, and plastic's utilisation has led to important breakthroughs in other areas of medicine. Artificial eyes were developed by a dental mechanic, William Daniel Barker, in 1942. He used his knowledge of plastics, which he had acquired as a dentist, to design artificial eyes for ex-servicemen.
Dentistry proved the durability of plastics and made orthopaedic surgeons confident that plastics could be implanted in the body, where they could be trusted not to cause a reaction. In the 1960s the special cement used by dentists was adopted to keep hip replacements in place. A material called hydroxyapatite, which is used in dental implants, has also been used as a coating for internal prostheses. It encourages the natural bone to grow into the metal prosthesis, making it more secure.
Related Themes and Topics
Related links
People:
Bibliography
C Jones, `Pulling Teeth in Eighteenth Century Paris', Past and Present, 166 (2001), pp 100-45
J Wynbrandt, The Excruciating History of Dentistry: Toothsome Tales & Oral Oddities from Babylon to Braces, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998)