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and contrary to the beliefs of various writers(6) detached archaeological specimens of Egyptian prosthetic dentistry do not seem to exist. Whether there was a religious prejudice against artificial teeth or against the burying of them with the mummy we do not know, but "it is hard to believe" says Guerini, "that so refined and ingenious a people as the Egyptians should not have found the means of remedying the deformity resulting from the loss of one or more front teeth."(7)
A vigorous development ill the art of dentistry does not, however, seem to have come until the rise of the Etruscan civilization in Italy.(8) The Etruscans were industrious, intelligent and artistic to the highest degree, fond of luxury in all its manifestations and took great care of their persons. At the same time they were a courageous people, skilled in arts and commerce and splendid navigators. In their long sea voyages they often visited Egypt, Phoenicia and Greece trading especially in the more flourishing cities, Memphis in Egypt, Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia. Thanks to this close and continuous intercourse, the Etruscans probably learned early what the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Greeks could teach in the way of dentistry and developed the art after the fashion of America in modern times. The numerous specimens of Etruscan dental art now in Italian and other museums allow us to observe the high standard of Etruscan dentistry in the 7th and 6th centurie B.C.  Fig. I The appliance illustrated in Fig. I from the 7th century B.C. is one of the finest Etruscan specimens. Over the remaining natural teeth gold bands were fitted. The bands were then set in place, relations were then taken and maintained by solder. The patient's lost teeth were partially replaced by the teeth of human beings and in one space by the tooth of all ox.(9) Such ingenuity in prosthesis (so far as archaeological evidence reveals) did not exist in Phoenicia and Greece even at a later date. Traditions have it that Greek dentistry bad its origin with Asklepios (Aesculapius) whose two sons, both physicians, took special part ill the siege of Troy. All the physicians and dentists from that time up to and including Hippocrates (born 460 B.C.) were members of the sacerdotal caste of Asklepiadi. But |
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