FALSE TEETH 7000 YEARS AGO.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 140, 18 March 1909, Page 4

FALSE TEETH 7000 YEARS AGO.

False teeth are by no means a modern invention. The "British Medical Journal" mentions that in a recent article published in Italy, Professor Galli describes how, on carefully examining a skull dug up in the necropolis of an Etruscan city, he found marks of old dental work in the shape of four golden capsules or crowns; two of these covered natural teeth, and had the other two as a bridge between them. Galli is convinced that his discovery shows the work of ancient Etruscan dentists. They also filled decaying teeth very well, and their crown and bridge work had stood the test of ages. Long before the dawn of Greek civilisation, however, dentistry seomt to have reached a high degcre of perfection. Dr Deneffe states that in the museum of jibe University of Ghent there is a set of artificial teeth found in a tomb at Orvieto with jewels and Etruscan vases. He gives their date as from 5000 to 6000 years before Christ. In a collection of antique surgical apparatus made by Dr Lambros there is a set which is believed to belong to the third or fourth century before the Christian era. Teeth stopped with gold have been found in Greek tombs. In the construction of false teeth recourse was had by the ancients to bone and horn; sometimes human teeth were used. Benzoni found in some mummies artificial teeth made of sycamore. In the first century of our era false teeth were very common among the Romans, and Martial ungallantly twits a lady with removing her teeth as she takes off her clothes at night.