Are you afraid of dentists? Do not despair! The ancestors of the present Europeans, when their teeth hurt, it was much worse.

An employee of the Institute of History and Ethics of Medicine in Cologne conducted a study to find out how in the 19th century people were engaged in the prevention and treatment of caries. It turns out that in the "good old days" sick teeth smoked smoke or just tore, and as an anesthetic used dog urine.

A trip to the dentist these days would seem to our ancestors an easy walk compared to what they were forced to endure. Until the 18th century, people turned to the dentist only in case of pain and availability of funds for treatment. People were sure that tooth decay does not come from malnutrition and lack of care, but from some "dental worms" and "bad juices". Especially widespread was the belief in "dental worms" in the Middle Ages. Given such views, it is not surprising that the aching teeth were pulled out or smoked, and, naturally, no modern anesthetic agents were used.

In the diet of people who lived in the 18th century, sugar has not played a significant role. When from the 19th century the dishes became more "refined", sugar became more widely used, and white bread replaced the rough black bread, and the incidence of caries increased. After it was found that the acids leading to the destruction of the enamel of the tooth, are formed as a result of fermentation of starch-containing food and sugar, proper nutrition was also taken into account as a factor that leads to caries. In fact, at the end of World War II, when hunger reduced the amount of sugar in food, a reduction in the incidence of caries.

But to the purposeful dental hygiene was still far away. Even in the 19th century, the use of urine for oral and dental hygiene was widespread in folk medicine. So, widely used today toothbrushes people used only once a week, and even once a month. Dentists of that time even warned against too frequent use of them, assuring that they cause irritation of the gums.

In the 20 th century, people began to realize that the toothbrush and toothpaste are the main means of preventing caries, but it was difficult to bring this truth to the masses. Only with the invention of radio for the first time it became possible to conduct explanatory work among the public about the hygiene of the mouth and teeth of medicus. en.

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