Taking care of oru teeth has been a practice since who knows when. Primitive man had his own way of brightening those pearlies, and now things are so high tech that you can soon grow a new set of chompers thanks to stem cell technologies.
Early humans cleaned their teeth using objects laying around like twigs or rough vegetation. They would fray the end of a stick by chewing on it or rubbing it on a rock and then just go at the teeth removing debris and stains. As diets changed, more or less dental work, and as beverages were being created, the fruit stains called for more new ways of cleaning.
As time advanced, the toothbrush was invented, and in this case history shows China invented the first brush with bristles. From there as China’s culture spread and their technologies for dentistry expanded, other cultures emulated the Chinese and over the centuries, and little by little things got better and better.
Jumping all the way to modern day we can see how today’s dentistry owes a lot to the past and how diverse dental issues are today.
Today’s dentist can solve or prevent problems that just 100 years ago people would have thought impossible. Nowadays dentists and dental product companies provide numerous services and products that can boggle the mind.
The most dramatic are the repair technologies. Broken and decayed teeth, damage from accidents and illness, can be rapidly repaired, often with a day. Entire new teeth can be implanted and the patient need not even be awake. They can walk into a dental office in the morning and go under anesthesia, and in a few hours walk out of the dentist’s office with a brand new set of teeth and not having to have suffered any pain.
Using new materials, dental surgeons can replace missing bones and rehabilitate the beds where teeth grow. The invention of braces alone is a huge industry and a major part of dentistry and those braces are getting more efficient and less unsightly. New composites have replaced old mixtures for filling teeth that turned out to be toxic. Fluoride, which was introduced into drinking water to prevent decay, took place in Michigan in 1945. has become a mainstay in municipalties throughout the country. Fluoride, however, doesn’t come without its controversies, mostly that it is toxic and actually doesn’t help to prevent decay.
As dentists search for even more efficient ways to provide dental help and aesthetics. One new technology on the horizon and showing great promise are stem cells. Using a person’s own stem cells to either repair damage to the mouth, jaw, there is even clinical promise of growing new teeth that would allow for people to have their own natural processes take over. These new technologies may or may not be years down the line considering how fast the stem cell industry is growing.
Finally, becoming a dentist is a lot easier, and the competition can be fierce, but industry statistics show that dentists and dental technicians are highly needed.
Dentistry has and will continue to be a very vital part of our lives.