Essay On Ancient Egyptian History:

THE PRACTICE OF DENTISTRY IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Ancient Egyptian Culture – The Practice of Dentistry in Ancient Egypt
Introduction
The ancient Egyptian empire is considered as one of the most fascinating ancient civilizations in history. History both ancient and modern connects with the ancient Egyptian civilization in several ways from infrastructure such as the great pyramids to written expression in the form of hieroglyphs. Another important contribution of the ancient civilization to the modern world is the science of dentistry. The article by R.J. Forshaw (2009) explores the origins of dental profession including the dental remedies and treatment. The article provides relevant evidences that substantiate the claim where the practice of dentistry was perceived to have originated from the ancient civilization. The article will be reviewed by identifying the thesis statement, main points, and the evidences presented by the author to support the thesis. It is apparent that the claim stating the practice of dentistry has originated from ancient Egypt is subjective to the contrasting conclusion and interpretations of the archeological and skeletal evidences.

Article Summary

The article seeks to examine if the practice of dentistry have originated from the ancient Egyptian culture and if it does, the article also determines if the profession is similar to those of the modern operative dental surgeons. The possibilities of dental practice during the ancient Egyptian period were found from the hieroglyphic encryptions, dentitions of the existing mummified remains, and artifacts dated back from 2,500 BC. Conclusively, the evidences pointing to the establishment of the fact that the practice of dentistry was existent during the ancient era is limited. Some of the deciphered evidences particularly from the ancient documents suggest that the dentistry in ancient Egypt is limited to pharmaceutical practices. This includes administration of herbal medications directly to the mucosal and gingival tissues for temporary relief. Based from the evaluation of the various evidences presented by the author, it is apparent that the ancient civilization has suffered a widespread dental disease, which led to the Egyptians to search for remedy, but not practicing dentistry on an operative-surgical extent.

Thesis Statement

The article aims to prove one thing, and that is the fact that dentistry is also of ancient Egyptian origin. Moreover, the thesis that serves as the theoretical framework in the article states that, “the dental remedies and treatment of the ancient Egyptian civilization is the source of some of the modern dental therapies”. The statement was later tested for accuracy by closely examining the collective evidences mentioned earlier.

Main Points and Evidences

There are several points to consider in the article that provides support to the thesis statement, which was cross-examined against using the collected evidences. The hieroglyphic inscriptions found in several monuments shows the use of terminologies referring to medical and/or dental title. In addition, the 150 medical staff serving the Pharaoh and his family, only nine were identified as teeth experts. In the hieroglyphic inscriptions found during the excavations in Saqqara, there were two titles that emerged as possibly the dentist practitioners in the ancient Egypt. The first one is the person concerned about the teeth while the other attendant deals with teeth. It seems apparent that the former is the dentist while the latter performs surgical and operative practice. However, it was not clear if there was any form of operative procedures performed by the aforementioned attendants as the hieroglyphs only contains such description. Another source of evidence presented by Forshaw (2009) are the excavated remains and artifacts from various archeological sites around Egypt. For instance, the X-Ray results of the ancient royal mummies in Egypt show significant differences on its dental condition as compared to those of the mummified servants. The royals appeared to have better dental composition with intact structure and shows less damages as compared to servants whose teeth evidently received little to no apparent care by a professional. Other evidence depicting the existence of dental professionals in ancient Egypt comes from non-medical texts, papyrus, and artifacts such as paintings. The surviving wall paintings apparently have showed no depiction of the Egyptian royals receiving dental care or any image indicating extraction of the tooth, which suggests that the operative level of dental practice did not occur in the ancient civilization. The only prominent description of toothaches experienced by ancient Egyptian is the Ramesside text, the papyrus Anastacia IV that refers to a worm that causes severe pain, which the Egyptian official referred to in the text described the suffering as having the muscles in the face twitching and hurting tooth.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the article provides an important historical account on the early practice of dentistry in ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the article also provides relevant insights on the possibilities that the ancient civilization is the origin of the modern dental practices. Although the evidences are collectively in opposition to the hypothesis, it still contributes largely to history in terms of identifying origins of practice and how the ancient civilizations are able to develop its own approach in dental care, which will help the modern practice in terms of finding alternatives.

Bibliography

Forshaw, R. J. "The Practice of Dentistry in Ancient Egypt." British Dental Journal 206, no. 9 (2009): 481-486. doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2009.355.
McDowell, A. G. Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Ring, Malvin E. Dentistry: An Illustrated History. New York: Abradale Press, 1985.
Weeks K R. Ancient Egyptian dentistry. In Harris J E, Wente E F (eds). An X-ray atlas of the royal mummies. pp 99-121. Chicago & London: Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 1980