Cosmetic Dentistry - Past and Present
People have altered their smile to improve their appearance throughout history. Here are some of the ways people have done this...
Whitening
Tooth whitening has been going on for centuries. In the 1800s some dentists sold their customers a special liquid which was painted onto their teeth to make them whiter.
Now tooth whitening kits use bleach to make teeth whiter.
Other oral hygiene products like toothpaste also contain whitening ingredients.
Straightening
Straight teeth are seen as a sign of a beautiful smile. The most common way to straighten our teeth is to wear a brace.
People have braces for practical and cosmetic reasons, to correct such problems as crooked teeth and overbites.
The image on the right shows two casts of the same set of teeth. The one on the left is from before the person wore a brace; the one on the right is after.
Braces as we now know them were developed in the late 1880s.
As a teenager now you are more likely to be given a brace than you were 25 years ago.
Tooth Replacement
Over time people have replaced missing teeth in different ways. This has been done to improve their appearance and for practical reasons such as chewing and speaking.
The jaw bone on the left belonged to a person who lived over 2000 years ago in northern Italy. To maintain their smile they had teeth fixed in place of ones they had lost.
Two hundred years ago, the poor sold their teeth for high prices. The upper classes paid to have them transplanted into their mouths, to replace the teeth they had lost.
The picture on the right shows the boy in black having his teeth removed, ready to be transplanted into the mouth of the high class woman in blue.
To replace a missing tooth today we use dental implants. These are metal posts fixed into the jaw which allow artificial teeth to be secured in place.
If you lose all your teeth today you might be given a set of dentures.
In the past dentures were available to the wealthy but they were more ornamental than functional and could have been made from animal bone.
Accessories
Tooth accessorises such as tooth jewels and grills can be used to express your personality.
This is not new. Over one thousand years ago South American tribes fixed jewels to their teeth.
The tooth jewels on the right show that decorating our teeth is still popular today.
