Abstract

Dentistry has a long, often well documented history. Evidence of tooth pullings has been discovered in crude carvings on the walls of caves that are over 10,000 years old. The ancient Egyptians, the Athenians, and the early inhabitants of Rome required oral health care; in addition to tooth extractions, they underwent tumor removal, tamponade for hemorrhage, reduction of jaw fractures with gold wire ligatures, cautery using white hot platinum loops, and an additional variety of remedies and nostrums. Pain relief was offered, with courses of treatment as varied as postural change, alteration of ambient temperature, and vegetable and organic medicines in poultices or via oral and rectal routes. Through the centuries, great surgeons and physicians introduced various methods of treatment: Hippocrates codified ethical standards; Maimonides established pragmatic rules for physicians; LeFort categorized facial fractures; Pasteur clarified the need for sterilization; Semmelweis standardized antiseptic conditions in the operating theater; Morton and Wells discovered safer methods of analgesia; Freud explored the theraupeutic uses of narcotics; Roentgen championed X-ray imaging; Curie pioneered the use of chemotherapy; and Barton and Nightingale were models of empathy and patient care.

In more recent times, we have profited from the genius of Watson and Crick (DNA); Fleming (penicillin); Venable and Stuck (Chrome-cobalt – molybdenum alloy); Gershkoff and Goldberg (the subperiosteal implant); Chercheve, Branemark, Linkow, Misch, Tatum, and Niznick (innovative root forms, titanium and its alloys, and sinus floor grafting). The 20th century has brought to us phenomenal imaging, breathtaking intrauterine fetal surgery, wildly promising stem cell research, and astonishing CADCAM techniques. We've had great teachers and clinicians who have introduced us to new forms of therapy and advanced methods, including the role of the hemidesmasomes, the essential elements of bone grafting, the importance of microscopic analysis, and the benefits to patients of physical diagnosis by their dentists.

To recognize and celebrate some of my heroes' contributions to the health and well-being of humankind, editorials will occasionally appear on these pages that explore their various contributions.