THE CLASSICAL WORLD

ANCIENT GREECE
ETRURIA
ROME
Classical Period (500-323 BCE)

- Greeks began to come into conflict with the kingdom of

Persia (500 BC).

- Death of the Macedonian king and conqueror Alexander

the Great (323 BC).
Athens = greatest political and cultural heights:
democratic system of government, building of the
Parthenon on the Acropolis, the creation of the
tragedies and the founding of the philosophical
schools of Socrates and Plato.
Comprehensive philosophical system of thought.

Medical schools in Cos and Cnidus

flourished by the middle of 5th century
BCE.
Rational medicine existed side by side with priestly
medicine.

- Worship of Asclepius.
1. Theatrical performances.
2. Sleeping potion.
3. The priest visited the
patient.
 Hippocratic method

HIPPOCRATES IS
THE FATHER OF MEDICINE
 Cos, 460-379 BCE

Central to Hippocrates teaching = RATIONAL

APPROACH TO DISEASE.
 Treatment: careful OBSERVATION
of the patient.

He attempted to treat observable problems

RATIONALLY.
The Hippocratic Corpus or CORPUS HIPPOCRATICUM:
collection of 60 early Ancient Greek medical works .

Hippocrates and his teachings.

Content, age and style.

HUMORAL THEORY BY HIPPOCRATES
In Hippocratic writings:

- References to the teeth.

- Formation
- Eruption
- Maladies and treatment.
 Problems with the teeth arose from a natural
predisposition or inherited weakness.

Extraction only when a tooth was loose, dangerous

operation

Don´t extract a tooth unless it´s loose enough

to be taken out with lead forceps
 ODONTAGRA,
a dental forceps made of iron.
The practice of ORAL HYGIENE was slow in coming
to Greece.

Regular dental care was not known until Greece

became a Roman province.
Greek culture spread thanks to Alexander the Great.
Alexandria 331 BCE.
 ETRURIA

-From Asia Minor.

-North Italian peninsula.

-Conquered Rome.

-VI century Romans revolted.

-Integrated into Roman life.

Bridges to replace one or more missing teeth. They
used BANDS OF SOFT, PURE GOLD TO
SURROUND REMAINING TEETH.
To replace the missing teeth they used:

Human teeth, cut off at their necks.

Teeth of calves or oxen.

 ROME

510 BC 190 BC

70 BC
Emperor Theodosius divided the Roman Empire in 395 C.E.

395 AD
The decline of the Western Roman Empire is one
of the events traditionally marking the end of
Classical Antiquity and the beginning of
the European Middle Ages.

476 AD
The Byzantine Empire lasted until 1453 C.E.

1453 AD
DENTISTRY INCLUDED AMONG THE MEDICAL
PRACTICE.
 Roman medicine was very influenced by Greek
medicine.

Greek slaves and freedmen worked in Rome as

Physicians.

Women, too, were found in the ranks of the medical

practitioners.
The roman encyclopedist Celsus wrote one of the
most authoritative Compendiums of medical
knowledge in ancient times.
Special forceps known as TENACULUM
For the extraction of the roots of the teeth.
Toothache as the worst of tortures,
and treatments:

- Hot application
- Mouth rinses
- Steam applications
- Purgatives and laxatives
Need for ORAL HYGIENE
 High regard for ORAL HYGIENE.

Although they didn´t have soap, they used water ,

tooth-cleaning powders, and DENTIFRICUM made of

- bones
- eggshells
- oyster shells
GALEN was the most notable physician in the last part
of the Classical Antiquity.
He was Greek and practiced in Rome.

The physicians of the Middle Ages followed

Galen until the Renaissance.
The Romans were skilled in restoring carious
teeth with gold crowns and replacing missing
teeth with by means of fixed bridgework.
Much of what we know of Roman Dentistry comes
from the writings of the satirists.