Tooth Decay In Ancient Egypt

The earliest discovery of dentistry can be found 25,000 years ago in the skulls of Cro-Magnon people. Tooth decay was found in the skulls of the people displaying the beginning of the discovery of dentistry. Later on dental art among the Egyptians developed. 4,000 years before the Christian era in Egypt inhabitants of the valley of the Nile were well advanced, where civilization first took its rise. Egyptians being the oldest civilized people uncovered great amount of dental evidence. Dental evidence including, diseases, crowns, non-decaying mandibles, artificial teeth, and the earliest form of modern day braces.

Egyptians greatly valued beautifying the human body. Many small objects were found filled in a grave in ancient parts of the necropolis. Objects including, copper coins, jewelry, and a part of the upper jaw The upper jaw contained two canines with four incisors united together with

For the myth of the tooth worms people called chaldeans were magicians who would cite charms to drive out the worm believed to be the cause of toothache. This myth came about when Eqyptians were having a great amount of pain in their teeth due to cavities allegedly the size of earthworms. Tooth worms were known as the cause of civilian’s tooth aches. People thought worms burrowed holes into their teeth causing a variety of pain. The amount the worm moved determined how painful the toothaches were and if the toothaches stopped that would mean the worm died. Patients pain determined the treatment of the tooth worm. Minor pain resulted in a direct a mixture of beeswax and henbane seed, a mild narcotic, on a piece of iron and smoked into the cavity with a funnel. The filling of the cavity with henbane and gum mastic would follow the smoke. If a patient was in severe pain the practitioner would simply pull out the filling with no aesthetics causing extreme