Volume 219

  • No. 12 18 December 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS’ SERIES: TOOTHBRUSH'

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The toothbrush on the cover of this issue, the last in this volume, was manufactured at the W. R. Tilbury Toothbrush Company, founded in Hackney in 1880. The bone and badger bristle brush used by Elodie on this particular cover was made by Thomas James Pennington, the factory manager, during the inter-war years. The finished brush would have gone through a number of labour intensive procedures. Femur bone taken from an ox or cow was first boiled to remove the fat and then cut to the correct handle lengths and roughly shaped by hand. Holes were cut in the head for badger or the less expensive pig bristle before whitening the bone by re-boiling in a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide. Turpentine was used to remove the last remnants of fat. The handles were given their final shape and polished by hand before the time consuming process, unusually undertaken by women, of 'drawing' the bristles into the holes drilled in the head. The bristles were then trimmed to produce the final product. Before the introduction of nylon toothbrushes in 1938, bone and bristle remained the mainstay in toothbrush manufacture ensuring their retail cost remained high.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With many thanks to Rachel Bairsto and the BDA Museum team for their significant contribution to the creation of this cover series.

  • No. 11 11 December 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: IVORY DENTURES

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this particular issue features a grinning pair of early nineteenth century dentures. References to artificial and replacement teeth in the seventeenth century are rare. It seems that hippopotamus and walrus ivory dentures were introduced around the 1720s. By the 1730s wax was being used as an impression material to produce stone models onto which blocks of ivory would be shaped and seated to mimic a set of teeth. This technique produced a closer fitting denture than the mouth measuring callipers of old. The ivory dentures on the cover, held in a modern Galetti articulator by laboratory blue stone, are very fine examples from around the 1800s. Each arch, including the teeth, would have been carved from a single block of hippopotamus or walrus tusk onto a stone model. The coiled gold wire springs aided the retention of the upper enture and was a common feature until the 1880s. The introduction of more accurately fitting denture bases, usually vulcanite, used the thin salivary seal produced around the periphery of the denture for retention. This made the spring, the most successful adjunct for stability over the previous 130 years, redundant.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With many thanks to Jack Bester, Lead Restorative Technician at the Maxillofacial and General Prosthetics Laboratory at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead for providing us with assistance, materials and facilities for this photoshoot.

  • No. 10 27 November 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: PHANTOM HEAD: The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this particular issue features an 'original' phantom head. With the opening of dental training establishments in the mid-nineteenth century, the London School of Dental Surgery opened in 1858 being a good example, it became essential for students to practise procedures on an artificial jaw prior to treating live patients. The original 'Phantom Head' was nothing more than a simple hinged device on a stand, very similar to the one in the foreground on the cover. This allowed students to develop their skills in cavity preparation using hand instruments and hand drills with speeds up to 15 rpm prior to the introduction of the revolutionary treadle drill in 1871 which could easily exceed 3000 rpm. At the AGM of the BDA in 1894 dentist Oswald Fergus presented his phantom head for the use of students and demonstrators. The Phantom Manikin Heads of today are a far cry from yesteryear with their facial features, latex gingivae and suction systems. Yet the concept of the phantom head remains the same; to train students in current techniques of conservative dentistry.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to the UCL Eastman Dental Institute for making their clinical skills lab available for this cover photoshoot. The Department of Continuing Professional Development at UCL Eastman Dental Institute has over 50 phantom head units within three dedicated state of the art clinical skills labs.

  • No. 9 13 November 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The hypodermic syringe is depicted on this issue. The injection of fluids into body cavities has been undertaken for millennia with both the Greeks and Romans using the technique to administer medicines. In Tudor times, metal syringes were used to inject mercury into sailors’ urethras in the ‘forlorn hope’ of curing syphilis. This procedure often causing far more ‘discomfort’ to the patients than the original symptoms! In 1853 Dr Alexander Wood, Secretary to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and, independently, the French veterinary surgeon Charles Pravaz developed hypodermic syringes with needles fine enough to pierce skin.

    Initially, syringe barrels were made of metal, usually brass or silver, with a steel needle. The brass syringe on the cover was made by Down Bros, long established instrument makers, of St. Thomas’ Street London. By 1866 metal barrels were being replaced by calibrated glass tubes, allowing, for the first time, the exact amount of ‘drug’ injected to be accurately measured. In 1956 Colin Murdock, a New Zealand pharmacist, developed the first fully disposable plastic syringe. Needles were reusable until the early 1960s when disposable ones became widely available.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot.

    Email: everything@hentryschein.co.uk; Tel: 020 7298 1980

    Website: https://www.henryschein.co.uk/gb-en/dental-gb

  • No. 8 23 October 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: DENTAL CHAIR

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    Josiah Flagg (1763–1816), reputed to be the first native born American dentist, is credited with making the first dental chair in 1790 by taking a standard wooden, spindle backed Windsor chair and adding a padded headrest and a widened wooden armrest for the instruments. James Snell (1795–1850) of London made the first adjustable dental chair in 1831, with later designers producing ever greater levels of sophistication. However, it was not until 1887 that the first patent was granted to Dr James Beall Morrison of Missouri for his tilting operating chair.

    The chair on the cover is thought to be from a dental dispensary around the 1880s; but with only an adjustable headrest it lacked the comfort of its contemporaries. The strap would have been used during the administration of general anaesthetics and not for restraining belligerent patients!

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski. Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    h thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot. Email: everything@henryschein.co.uk; Tel: 020 7298 1980; Website: https://www.henryschein.co.uk/ gb-en/dental-gb.

    With thanks also to Sevgi Ozer and Mr Paul Marshall from Nigel Meyer & Associates Dental Practice for their assistance with this cover.

  • No. 7 9 October 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: TOOTHPASTE POT

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this particular issue features a nineteenth century toothpaste pot. Prior to the First World War, toothpaste came in small ceramic pots bought at a chemist's shop or directly from the dentist. Pots, like the one on the front cover, proved an ideal advertising tool. The name of the manufacturer would be prominently displayed alongside the extravagant claims made for the product within. Many lids displayed members of the royal household; the inference being, if it is good enough for them it is good enough for us. Queen Victoria appeared on no less than ten lids from six manufacturers, an example of which is shown here next to the modern toothbrushes. Produced by John Gosnall and Co this lid was the first of this type to be made by this company and was in circulation between 1870 and 1890. Cherry was one of the most popular toothpastes available during Queen Victoria's reign. It was made from the areca nut but without the cherries. It got its 'cherry' name from the red colour produced by the addition of carmine to the paste and not from the taste!

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com

  • No. 6 25 September 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: STUDENT INSTRUMENT BOX

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this issue features a dental student’s instrument box from the 1960s, photographed in one of the clinical skills laboratories at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in London. With the opening of the Dental Hospital of London in 1858, and the London School of Dental Surgery and the Metropolitan School of Dental Science the following year, demand for a dental box for all the instruments the students were obliged to buy became urgent. In the 1870s Claudius Ash supplied a 5-drawer box similar to the one in the cover image. In those days it would have been lined with cloth and came with a full range of instruments including forceps, elevators and all the usual restorative equipment; much of which we would still recognise. At a cost of 13 guineas, equivalent to £1,150 today, it didn’t come cheap! By the 1960s students were only expected to supply their own hand instruments. In the mid-1970s the individual student box was in decline with instruments and handpieces supplied from the hospital central sterilisation.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot.

    With thanks to the UCL Eastman Dental Institute for making their clinical skills lab available for this cover photoshoot. The Department of Continuing Professional Development at UCL Eastman Dental Institute has over 50 modern phantom head units within three dedicated state of the art clinical skills laboratories.

  • No. 5 11 September 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: DENTAL KEY

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this particular issue shows an extraction tool known as the dental key. The key was first referenced around 1742. Early examples looked like a door key (of the period), with a straight shaft and an ebony or ivory handle. At the other end was a bolster with hinged claw; the bolster was placed against the side of the tooth and the claw over the crown. The key was then turned as in a lock, detaching the tooth. If a claw of the incorrect size was applied, there was a high risk of the tooth fracturing. It also had the disadvantage of operating in one direction only. Nevertheless, it remained the instrument of choice until the forceps popularised by Sir John Tomes were introduced in 1840. ‘The extraction of a tooth, if conducted by a skilful hand, is a safe and easy operation; but if attempted by the unskilful, may occasion the most frightful and dangerous consequences,’ C Harris noted in The dental art, a practical treatise on dental surgery, 1839.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot.

    Email: everything@henryschein.co.uk; Tel: 020 7298 1980

    Website: https://www.henryschein.co.uk/gb-en/dental-gb

  • No. 4 28 August 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: BOILING WATER STERILISER The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    This cover features the boiling water steriliser. Louis Pasteur, in his scientific papers in the early 1860s, proved bacteria could be destroyed by heat or filtration or just by the use of carbolic acid. By 1865, Joseph Lister, the father of surgical sterile techniques, was implementing Pasteur’s recommendations; thereby saving countless lives from a suppurating death. In 1881 sterilisation by boiling water was introduced but it was not until the 20th century that portable boiling water sterilisers became generally available to the practising dentist. In the D.M. Co. catalogue of 1925-28 a similar boiling water steriliser to the one on the cover of this issue was illustrated. Instruments were placed in a tray suspended in the boiling water bath heated from below by wickless spirit lamps. Bicarbonate of soda would usually be added to stop the instruments from rusting. Boiling water sterilisers remained the mainstay for instrument cleaning until the advent of the autoclave (seen in the background of the cover image) in the early 1960s.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to the Harley Street Dental Group for making their practice available for this photo shoot. Address: 52 Harley Street, London W1G 9PY; Tel: 020 7363 5981 Website: https://www.harleystreetdentalgroup.org

  • No. 3 14 August 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: DENTAL BALANCE FOR AMALGAM

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this issue features a dental balance for measuring amalgam. Amalgam was introduced in the 1830s but it remained a controversial material until 1895 when Greene Vardiman Black published his 'balanced amalgam formula' giving the ideal proportions of the components to produce the best amalgam filling. By the 1920s dental supply companies were promoting 'dental balances', like the one in use on the cover, to help the dentist to dispense the correct proportions. In1902 John Brodribb Parfitt, BDA President and Honorary Curator of the Museum, made his own balance which is on the bench behind the one in use. Mercury was put into the small cup on the left of the balance with the pointer on the right registering the weight. Alloy was then added to the mercury until the correct combined weight, as indicated by the pointer, was reached.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot.

    Email: everything@henryschein.co.uk; Tel: 020 7298 1980

    Website: https://www.henryschein.co.uk/gb-en/dental-gb

  • No. 2 24 July 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: GLASS LANTERN SLIDE OF AN EARLY X-RAY'

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    The cover of this issue features a glass lantern slide of an early X-ray. Introduced in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen the diagnostic potential of X-rays was quickly recognised and adopted by the dental profession. Frank Harrison of Sheffield was the first to reproduce a dental X-ray, in this very Journal in 1896. The glass lantern slide featured on the cover is part of a collection of 800 produced by George Cunningham in 1910. Cunningham campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the importance of good oral hygiene by organising talks, slide shows and other pioneering events.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to the Harley Street Dental Group for making their practice available for this photo shoot.

    Special thanks to Dr Adam Thorne for taking part.

    Address: 52 Harley Street, London W1G 9PY; Tel: 020 7363 5981

    Website: https://www.harleystreetdentalgroup.org

  • No. 1 10 July 2015

    'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS' SERIES: 1848 'EGG WHISK DRILL'

    The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.

    This issue features a drill dated to 1848, which works in a similar fashion to an egg whisk and includes an interchangeable, right-angled head. Requiring two hands to operate it, cavity preparation was slow and difficult. The treadle drill, invented by James B. Morrison in 1871 proved to be the next major step forward in drill technology.

    Photography by Filip Gierlinski

    Website: www.filskifoto.com

    Email: filip@filskifoto.com

    With thanks to Henry Schein for making their London Showroom available for this photo shoot.

    Email: everything@henryschein.co.uk; Tel: 020 7298 1980

    Website: https://www.henryschein.co.uk/gb-en/dental-gb