subject: Dentistry Today And Dentistry Yesterday [print this page] Modern dentists service and dental care didn't really start until the eighteen hundreds. Before the eighteen hundreds there wasn't a formal dental school or dental organization to provide dentists with training or support, nor provide the general public with dental health education or dental treatment. Dentists did exist before the eighteen hundreds, but not really as a dentists profession or dentists specialized work.
Going to the dentists back then was actually usually a trip to the barbershop to get some teeth pulled. Because humans have always had dental problems and needed dental treatment there was always someone who had to do the job of extracting teeth, hence the dentists were known as teeth extractors rather than dentists. There were also some "specialized" dentists treatments such as making dental bridgework from gold. This dentists work was usually done by the local jewelers.
So, what started dentists work to be more like the dental preventative care and dental treatment we have today? The answer is not in just one event, but several events that not only affected dental services but other health services. The discovery of local and general anesthetics was one of the first events that effected dentists work and made it possible for dentists services to even exist as they do today. Can you imagine having a root canal without the dentists using pain-killer?! That would be some painful dental procedure! So, using the discovery of dental anesthetics was very important to dentists work and dental treatment of today's world.
Providing dentists with a general dental instruction and health education was also needed and came about with the first dentists university in America. Dentists could then receive an education on how to provide dental treatment and how to use anesthesia. With the formation of the American Dental Association, there would also be a standard set for dentists educational requirements and dentists continuing education requirements to keep up with the new dental treatment and dental support services available. The American Dental Association, today, regulates the requirements of dental school curriculum so that all dentists are receiving a standard dental education. This is done mostly to protect the general population and to provide the best dental care for the general population. Because of the American Dental Association, dentists must take a board exam before being licensed as dentists to practice in their state of choice.
Dental services today, continue to improve with dental research and medicine as well as the invention of dental tools and discoveries of dental health anatomy. Just think of the dental health of fifty years ago and the dental health today. Dental services are more available today. Dentists are more available today. People are more aware of dental health and the importance of having a general dentists routine preventative care services on a yearly basis. Dentists provide dental services today with more tools and dental materials than existed fifty years ago. Cosmetic dentistry exists more today than any time before because of the dental tools and dental materials available for dental services such as porcelain veneers, for example. Dentists continue to educate their dental patients on good dental health care and why dental services are important to their general health.
