Notable Figures in Restorative Dentistry and Their Contributions
Dental problems aren’t new, but dental solutions as we know them, are. The field of dentistry took thousands of years to find its place in the medical world, while the search for relief has driven the gamut of impractical and bizarre remedies alike. In rare cases, brilliant and revolutionary solutions emerged, pioneering modern solutions in the restorative dentistry industry.
The first known dentist was an Egyptian scribe from 2600 BC, named Hesy-Re. His tomb read, “The greatest of those who deal with teeth, and of physicians.” The Middle Ages brought a period of trial and error to dentistry—and a painful one at that, thanks to European barber surgeons. The pivotal moment for legitimizing dentistry came in 1728, with Pierre Fauchard’s defining work, Le Chirurgien Dentiste, ou Traité des Dents. He gathered support from the scientific and medical communities, turning the 18th century into an era of discovery and innovation in dentistry.
Notable Figures in Restorative Dentistry
The long, twisted history of restorative dentistry has been marked by the breakthroughs of notable figures. We rely on them to this day. Here is a timeline of some of the pioneers who changed history.
1746: Claude Mouton
In 1746, Claude Mouton devised a method to lace people’s crowns with white enamel to improve their appearance. He helped to modernize the teeth restoration field with his development of a post and gold crown for root canals.
1790: John Greenwood
Dr. John Greenwood is most remembered for being George Washington’s personal dentist. Throughout his practice, Dr. Greenwood would design four different sets of dentures for Washington, each carved from hippopotamus tusk. In 1790, his lasting contribution to restorative dentistry was the first foot-powered drill, which he called the ‘dental foot engine’.
1825: Samuel Stockton
The use of porcelain for teeth restoration began in the late 1700s. In 1825, Samuel Stockton was the first to commercially manufacture porcelain dentures in the US. His family founded the S.S. White Company in 1844, which would then work to further improve the design and quality of porcelain dentures. Even though today’s dentures are usually plastic or ceramic, they’re a direct result of Samuel Stockton’s processes.
1833-1850: The Crawcours Brothers
Dental amalgams—created from a mixture of several metals, including mercury, silver, tin, and copper—were first introduced to the United States in 1833 by the French Crawcours brothers.
Amalgams became the center of a heated controversy in the dental community, as some strongly denounced the use of mercury in fillings, while others embraced the cost-effectiveness and durability of the design. While half of all fillings in the mid-1800s were made of mercury, the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS) formed an alliance against their use. The controversy over mercury in amalgams is still ongoing.
1839: Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process for hardening rubber and patented the design in 1839. Vulcanite is an affordable resulting rubber that is easy to mold to a patient’s mouth, making for an ideal base for false teeth.
1864: Sanford C. Barnum
Dr. Sanford C. Barnum developed the rubber dam in 1864. The dam is a piece of elastic rubber that fits over a tooth using weights to isolate the tooth from the oral cavity during procedures. Before Dr. Sanford C. Barnum’s invention, tooth reconstruction procedures came with a high risk of contamination from saliva and bacteria. This would then lead to needing further procedures and the eventual loss of the tooth.
Barnum further improved his design in 1882 with changes that would evolve into the modern clamps used in restorative dentistry today.
1875: George Green
George Green revolutionized dentistry when he patented the first electric dental drill on January 26, 1875. For thousands of years, people had been drilling into teeth with manual drills. Thanks to George Green’s creation, the process is safer, more enduring, and more accurate—improving both the ease of operation for the dentist and the outcome for the patient.
1896: C. Edmond Kells, Jr.
Known as New Orleans' most famous dentist, C. Edmond Kells became the first dentist in the US to take x-rays of a living patient. This breakthrough is still a significant part of restorative dentistry today, as it continues to help identify weaknesses in gums and the roots of teeth. X-rays are also used for fitting crowns and bridges.
1903: Charles Land
Dr. Charles H. Land introduced the porcelain jacket crown (PJC) in 1903, providing the world with the first natural-looking, full-coverage tooth restoration. Firing platinum foil in layers over porcelain created a finished PJC that could be cemented in place. While PJCs were far from perfect, they were an important stage in the development of what was to come.
1907: William Taggart
The history of restorative dentistry has been riddled with challenges. Making casts to accommodate precise tooth fillings was no exception. When molten gold was poured into small molds, it would fail to fill the small, fine details of the cast required for a quality filling. William H. Taggart’s ‘lost wax’ casting machine, invented in 1907, solved this lingering issue with centrifugal force. He fashioned the heavy force to push the molten gold down into every last crevice. Talk about thinking outside the box.
1949: Oskar Hagger
Oskar Hagger is often referred to as the ‘Father of modern dental adhesives’ because of his 1949 breakthrough—the Sevriton Cavity Seal. He devised this as the first system of bonding acrylic resin to dentin. The acidic adhesive would actually bond to the tooth at a molecular level. New generations of adhesives using this acidic bonding characteristic have continued to perfect Hagger’s discovery over the years.
1962: Rafael Bowen
Rafael Bowen developed a thermoset resin complex in 1962, called Bis-GMA, which we still use in composite restorative materials today. Sterngold’s InstaTemp Provisional Crown & Bridge material is a shining example of Bowen’s work. It’s a two-component, bis-acryl composite used for fabrication, contouring, and polishing in restorative dentistry.
Their Legacy in Modern Restorative Dentistry
Today’s invaluable field of restorative dentistry rests upon the shoulders of great thinkers and their discoveries. Nearly 300 years of their inventions and ingenuity have provided us with more natural and robust materials, better practices, and safer procedures.
These historical figures in dentistry developed sound concepts that have withstood the test of time. Likewise, Sterngold is dedicated to helping preserve your dental health with restorative solutions that will also stand the test of time.
Get in touch with us today. We’d love to help you provide wider smiles for patients with the best restorative products for your practice or for the dental lab.