![]() Such a hole could only have been drilled with a right angled drill, technology that was not available in Dynastic Egypt. He also noted that the direction of the hole was from behind forward, a direction impossible to perform with a straight drill due to the presence of the intervening soft tissues. Leek 12 when examining a comparable ancient Egyptian mandible found a similar situation of tooth wear and abscess formation, also having circular holes that were extremely cleanly cut and penetrating through sound tissue. However, Wingate-Todd 11 considered that one of Hooton's holes was an accessory mental foramen whilst the other a pathological cavity formed by the abscess. Certainly the bow drill was in use in ancient Egypt for carpentry and stone work, as evidenced by various wall paintings in tombs, such as that seen in the 18 th Dynasty tomb of Reckmire at Luxor. ![]() He claimed that due to the upward angulation of the holes, their artificial symmetrical appearance and the apparent thickness of bone they had transversed, the holes were the result of man-made drillings, affected in order to drain the pus from the apical abscess.īreasted, 10 an Egyptologist later supported this view and suggested that they could have been created by a bronze instrument in a bow drill. Hooton noted two small holes penetrating the outer cortical plate above the mental foramen and in the direction of the anterior root of this tooth. The teeth of the mandible showed considerable wear, with the lower right first molar having a pulpal exposure and an associated apical infection. Surgical treatment of dental abscesses was first raised by Hooton 9 in 1917, following his visual and radiographic study of an ancient Egyptian mandible, dating to about 2,500 BC. Much has been made of these cases with some authors 2, 3, 4, 5 claiming, quite categorically in some cases, that this evidence proves the existence of an operative dental profession, but equally so other workers 6, 7, 8 have doubted this. There are a few instances where a surgical approach for the treatment of dental abscesses is claimed to have been adopted there are only three cases of possible prosthetic work, and some examples where an extraction may have occurred. However, from the tens of thousands of remains that have been examined from the entire 3,000 year period of Dynastic Egypt the evidence is very limited. ![]() It is in the skeletal and mummified human remains that if any operative dental surgery did occur in ancient Egypt, then it is here that we might expect to find some conclusive confirmation. Whether these multiple titles indicated that the individual was engaged in several specialities or that the titles were perhaps administrative or ceremonial is unclear, but overall they do suggest a need for dental care. Other dentists similarly held multiple titles such as Nyanksekhmet who was also a 'chief of physicians' and Khuwy who was not only a dentist, but 'elder of the physicians of the palace' as well as specialising in gastrointestinal complaints. Hesyre, who lived about 2660 BC, was not only chief of dentists but also chief of physicians as well as holding a number of other religious and secular titles. The earliest recorded dentist not only in Egypt but in the world was Hesyre, who is evidenced from six exquisitely carved wooden panels that were found in his tomb at Saqqara near modern day Cairo, and which are generally considered to be the finest wood artefacts handed down from antiquity ( Fig. In addition there were 'chief of dentists' and perhaps the highest dental position was that of 'chief dentist of the palace'. It is not certain how these two titles differ, but possibly they reflect differences in duties and status. They appear to have been hierarchically ordered with two basic categories, 'one who is concerned with teeth' usually regarded as a dentist, and 'one who deals with teeth'. Of the approximately 150 persons who are recorded as being medical personnel in ancient Egypt, only nine are recognised as dentists. Translation of hieroglyphic inscriptions found in tombs and monuments throughout Egypt has been able to reveal the occupation of the dead person, which in some cases has pointed to a medical or dental title.
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