ANST - FW: Byzantine/Persian medical (dental) history

[Vicki Marsh]

Greetings, Ansteorra,
>From Baroness Zara Zina

In response to Mistress Gunnora's plea, 

I would forward a letter from my lady-in-waiting, who is attending dental school.  
This is in response to a class I taught at Elfsea Baronial College on Byzantine Medicine.

I love it when one person's research leads to another's interest.  
Now I want to find out more.  I want to know when they started using ether and exactly what the teeth were fumigated with.

Did you know that jewelry tools are practically identical to dental tools?  
A great place to find jewelry tools for cheap is at gun shows where they sell used dental tools.

ZZT

-----Original Message-----
From:	Sue Dittrich [SMTP:dittrich at flash.net]
Sent:	Saturday, May 30, 1998 10:45 PM
To:	zarazina at flash.net
Subject:	Byzantine/Persian medical (dental) history

Hello, my dear!
I hope things are going well for you.  I found my notebook for the history of dentistry, and I did find some things that might be interesting for you and your research on Byzantine medicine. Here goes:
Rhazes (868-932 AD) Persian-Used a cement compund of alum and mastic to fill teeth; avoided extractions by using mouthwashes for strengthening teeth.
Avicenna (Abu-Ali-al-Husayn-Ibin-Abdulah-Ibin-Sina)   980AD-1037 AD (Persian)--  Ranked with Hippocrates and Galen as the most influential physician of the period;  theorized a cause for odontalgia;  Held to the worm theory of caries* with treatment of fumigation; wrote the Canons of Medicine (Ganun)  which was the standard medical textbook until the end of the 15th C.
Albucasis (936-1013 AD)  Cordova-wrote a treatise called the "Al-Tarsif" which was devoted to surgery.; Made the first set of dental scaling instruments; treated deformities (dental and medical); first to show aversion to the "Tonsores" or "barbers."
Yeber-Arabic chemist who discovered ether.
*Worm theory of caries--  This theory is analogous to the worm in an apple.  The worm lives inside of the tooth, and eats away at the insides, eventually rotting the tooth and causing caries.  Avicenna believed that if they fumigated the tooth, the worm would leave, and would stop the rotting of the tooth.
I hope these help!  Documentation is only from this notebook by my professor, Frank Baker, D.M.D.  You might want to look up other documentation for verification.

See ya at Highland Games!
Genevieve

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