The Etruscans and the History of Dentistry: The Golden Smile through the Ages

The Etruscans and the History of Dentistry: The Golden Smile through the Ages
Contents
List of illustrations
	Figures
	Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
	Marshall Joseph Becker
	Jean MacIntosh Turfa
Background: The main ancient cultures associated with dental appliances listed in alphabetic order
	Egypt, “late period” (Persian domination, Ptolemaic kingdom)
	Etruscans (Etruria)
	Faliscans (the Ager Faliscus—“Faliscan territory”)
	Greeks (Greece: cities of Tanagra and Eretria)
	Phoenicians (Phoenicia)
	Romans/Latins (Rome, Latium, and other Italic tribes)
Introduction
	The Corpus and this study of dental appliances
1 Dentistry in medical history: Classical roots
	Development of dentistry
	Dental extractions in antiquity
	Pain
	Personal hygiene and home care
	Surgical tools and techniques for dental extractions
	Status of Roman-era medical and dental practitioners
	Ancient written evidence for dentistry and dental appliances in chronological order
		Near Eastern sources: Mesopotamia and Egypt
		Greek and Roman sources
		The Laws of the Twelve Tables
		Ancient literary sources
			Hippocratic Treatise: On Joints 32
			Cicero: Marcus Tullius Cicero: 106–43 BCE
			Catullus: Gaius Valerius Catullus: c.84– c.54 BCE
			Horace: Quintus Horatius Flaccus: 65–8 BCE
			Celsus, Aulus (?) Cornelius: c.25 BCE–c.50 CE
			Scribonius Largus: c.0–c.50 CE
			Pliny the Elder: Gaius Plinius Secundus: 23/24–79 CE
			Lucillius (Greek author, Loukillios): first century CE
			Martial: Marcus Valerius Martialis: c.38/41–c.104 CE
			Marcellus of Side (Marcellus Sidetes): first century CE
			Pedanius Dioscorides (Greek Dioskourides): first century CE
			Soranus of Ephesus: c.80–ca.140 CE
			Suetonius: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus: c.70–c.140 CE
			Lucian: Lucianus: c.115–after 180 CE
			Galen (Aelius or Claudius Galenus): 129–after 210 CE
			Talmudic writings: c.300–400 CE
			Marcellus Empiricus of Bordeaux: c.400 CE
			Caelius Aurelianus: ca. 380?–c.450 CE?
			Greek anthology
			Aetius of Amida: mid-fifth to mid-sixth century CE
			Paul of Aegina: c.625–690 CE
			Coptic Medical Papyrus: ca. 800–900 CE?
			Albucasis (Abu-al-Qasim): c.936–1013. (Abū ʼl-Qāsim Khalaf ibn ‘Abbās al Zahrāwī)
	The late antique period and beyond
	The beginnings of modern dentistry
	The archaeological evidence in Europe
	Dental drilling and filling
	Modern ornamentation: inlays and replacement of healthy teeth
	Notes
2 Evidence from the ancient Near East: correcting misconceptions
	The Fallacy of Egyptian (or Greek) origins of dental prostheses
	The supposed evidence of Egyptian dental medicine: ancient texts
	The physical evidence—or lack thereof
	Medical Papyri with information on the mouth
	Example of Egyptian dental medicine: Papyrus Ebers, prescriptions for teeth, mouth
	Near Eastern primacy in dental prostheses—a myth
	Notes
3 The dental prosthesis: A lost Etruscan invention
	Introduction
	The evidence
	Etruria: health, nutrition and evidence for dental concerns
	An Etruscan noblewoman’s dental health
	Evidence of art: Etruscan votive anatomical models
	Etruria: the invention of dental appliances
	The appliances
		A summary of features of the Etruscan appliances: braces and bridges
		Characteristics of Etruscan appliances
	Ancient metallurgy and the origins of modern dentistry
	Non-destructive analyses of gold objects
	Etruscan expertise in gold-working
	Analysis of the gold in Etruscan dental appliances
	Gold parting in Etruria
	Fitting Etruscan appliances in the mouth
	Drilling in antiquity
	Functions of Etruscan dental prostheses
	Women only: sex and tooth size
	Why the need for replacements?
	Why wear a dental appliance? The public roles of Etruscan women
	Greek prejudice and Etruscan equality
	Gender segregation and ethnographic parallels
	Etruria and Rome, additional evidence on social customs
	The reason for dental appliances: tooth evulsion?
	Functional theories and Etruscan dental appliances
	The makers of appliances
	Etruscan designs and techniques of manufacture
	An historical analysis of the phenomenon of Etruscan dental appliances
	Were Etruscan dental appliances really worn by Etruscans? (A suggestion by Turfa)
	Technical and social aspects
	Notes
4 Dental appliances and dentistry after the Etruscans, to the present day
	A survey of the seven wire appliances from Rome and the Eastern Mediterranean/Levant
	The Levant and the Islamic world
	China and amalgams
	Renaissance Italy and Europe
	The eighteenth century and later
	Ancient cases employing drilling: with or without filling
		Maya dentistry: a note
	Notes
5 Catalogue of Etruscan and Roman-era dental appliances
	PART I: CATALOGUE OF ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN-ERA GOLD-BAND DENTAL APPLIANCES
		Three examples that may be in Buffalo, New York: the Barrett and Van Marter appliances
		1 Barrett I
		2 Barrett II
		3 Van Marter
		4 Copenhagen
		5 Poggio Gaiella
		6 Populonia: buried at Populonia (missing: lost in Florence Flood 1966)
		7 Ghent (lost)
		The Tarquinia series (nos. 8–12): history and provenance
		8 Bruschi I
		9 Bruschi II
		10 Bruschi III (often confused with Corneto I)
		11 Corneto I
		12 Corneto II
		The two appliances in the Liverpool World Museum
		13 Liverpool I (Cat. no. M. 10334)
		14 Liverpool II
		15 Valsiarosa
		16 Teano
		17 Praeneste (modern Palestrina)
		18 Satricum
		19 Bracciano
		20 Tanagra (Greece)
		21 Sardis (Ancient Lydia)
		Origins
		W-1 Sidon I (sometimes referred to as “Gaillardot”)
		W-2 Sidon II (sometimes called “Ford” or “Torrey”)
		W-3. Alexandria
		W-4 El-Qatta
		W-5 Tura El-Asmant
		W-6 Eretria
		W-7 Collatina (Rome)
	Notes
6 Concluding remarks
Appendix I: Uncertain examples of Etruscan dental appliances
	I.A Hamilton
	I.A Supplemental material: Passages from Böttiger (1797: 63–65) relating to the gold dental appliance once in the Hamilton collection
	I.B Castellani collection: an alleged example
	I.C Rath example (dubious)
	I.D Dresden: “old German” cremations (prostheses of bone?)
	I.E Metz Museum pivot tooth (from Merovingian France)
	I.F Emptoz’s votives
Appendix II: Modern copies of Etruscan dental appliances
	II.A The Ghent copies
	II.B The Wellcome copies, now in the Science Museum in London
	II.C Copies in Berlin and other German cities
	II.D Musée Pierre Fauchard copies (Musée de L’École Dentaire de Paris)
	II.E Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
	II.F Ward’s copies, Edinburgh Dental School, and clues to other copies
	II.G Copies now held in Italy
	II.H Other copies?
Appendix III: Spurious examples of dental implants
or appliances
	III.A The “dental bridge” in the “skull of Pliny”
	III.B Baglioni’s “bridge”
	III.C Cali’s various creations
	III.D Platschick’s piece supposedly from Populonia
	III.E Marzabotto (near Bologna, Italy)
	III.F Vetulonia “crowns” (in the Museo Nazionale, Firenze)
	III.G The Purland “Egyptian” example (1857–1858)
	III.H Other spurious ancient Egyptian examples supposedly dating from before the Hellenistic period
	III.I Saint Benedict’s dentures
	III.J The Nabatean “wire implant” described by Zias
	III.K The “filled tooth” from Lachish in Palestine
	III.L The Danish “bead” insert
	III.M The “stone implant” from the Kalabah Necropolis, Klazomenai, Turkey
	III.N Bulgarian boasting: “brass” teeth of the fourth century ce
	III.O An Hungarian ring found “surrounding” a tooth
	III.P The drilled adult tooth from an Upper Paleolithic context
	III.Q The “filling” in a pig’s tooth
	III.R A French fantasy in Algeria
Appendix IV: Amulets and votives resembling or
incorporating teeth
	IV.A Veio
	IV.B Junker
	IV.C Cairo, fourth–third centuries bce
	IV.D Vienna Museum
	IV.E National Museum of Hungary in Budapest
	IV.F Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, amulets supposedly detected via X-ray in Egyptian mummies
	IV.J Turin Egyptian collections
	IV.K Roman molar
Appendix V: Pliny on cures for oral pathologies
	Notes
Appendix VI: Evidence for dental extractions in ancient Rome: A summary of the analysis of teeth excavated at the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum
	Contexts and evaluation of the teeth, Castor and Pollux Trench “T”
Appendix VII: Report on analysis of gold bands in
Liverpool appliances (nos. 13 and 14)
	Report on the analysis by scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) of two Etruscan gold denture fittings
Bibliography
Index