the medical discipline that studies the structure of the teeth and the causation, treatment, and prevention of diseases of the teeth, tongue, oral mucosa, jaws, and the surrounding tissue of the face and neck; dentistry also develops new materials used for dental fillings and prostheses.
Diseases of the organs of the oral cavity were first described by the ancient physicians Susruta in India, Hippocrates in Greece, and Galen and Celsus in Rome. In the 14th century the French physician G. de Chauliac developed a device for the extraction of teeth, and at the end of the 15th century the Italian physician G. Arcoli filled teeth with foil made from gold, lead, and tin. In the 16th century, A. Paré described in detail the extraction of teeth and operations for tooth reimplantation.
At the turn of the 18th century dentistry was established as an independent branch of medical practice. The founder of dentistry as a scientific discipline is considered to be the French surgeon P. Fauchard, who in 1728 published Le Chirurgien dentiste, in which he reviewed the entire development of dentistry. The filling of teeth and making of dental prostheses were improved in the 19th century. In 1820 the French physician C. F. Delabarre used special drills for treating cavities. In the late 19th century the American dentist N. Morrison invented the foot-driven drill. At the turn of the 20th century the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of major dental diseases were studied in light of advances made in physiology, biochemistry, pathology, and other scientific disciplines.
The first information on dentistry in Russia dates back to the early 18th century. The profession of dentist and examination requirements for dentists were established by law in 1810. In 1829 women were given the right to practice dentistry. The first school of dentistry was opened in St. Petersburg in 1881. Before 1917 there were approximately 20 dental schools in Russia; dentists were trained in private institutions and, as dentists, had private practices. The First Society of Dentists in Russia and the Society of Dentists and Physicians Practicing Dentistry were founded in St. Petersburg in 1883. Similar societies were subsequently organized in Moscow (1891), Kiev, Kharkov, and Tbilisi. In 1882, la. V. Dzhems-Levi published the first special textbook on dentistry, which was entitled Guide to Dentistry. In the 20th century, M. M. Chemodanov and A. K. Limberg made important contributions to the development of dentistry.
After the October Revolution of 1917 a dental subsection was included in the People’s Commissariat for Public Health of the RSFSR; at the time the subsection was headed by P. G. Dauge. Dental subdepartments were organized as parts of medical departments, and advanced-training courses were introduced. The State Institute of Dentistry was established in Moscow in 1921, and a similar institute was organized in Leningrad in 1927. By 1975 the USSR had two institutes of dentistry and 33 dental departments at medical institutes. By 1975, in addition to dental technicians with special technical education, there were approximately 100,000 dentists with a university-level or secondary-level medical education (as opposed to 20,400 in 1940). Greatly contributing to the treatment and prevention of dental diseases are the routine checkups provided children, pregnant women, workers with occupationally hazardous jobs, and other population groups.
Since 1976 the training of dentists with a secondary-level medical education has been discontinued in the USSR, with a corresponding increase in the number of dentists with a university-level medical education. Important contributions to the development of dentistry have been made by A. A. Limberg, A. I. Evdokimov, I. G. Lukomskii, I. A. Begel’man, V. Iu. Kurliand-skii, and V. F. Rud’ko. In 1968 the All-Union Society of Dentists (founded 1956) became a member of the International Stomatological Association (founded 1907). The major scientific institution in dentistry in the USSR is the Central Scientific Research Institute of Dentistry, which was founded in Moscow in 1962.
Dental care is provided on the same basis in other socialist countries. In most capitalist countries dentists primarily have private practices. Research in dentistry has been conducted by G. Staegemann (German Democratic Republic), F. Urban (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic), I. Ericsson (Sweden), and G. Hartwin (USA).
There are four major branches of modern dentistry: preventive dentistry, oral surgery, orthodontics, and pedodontics. Preventive dentistry involves the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases of the teeth (cavities, pulpitis, periodontitis), periodontosis, and diseases of the oral mucosa. Oral surgery deals with the extraction of teeth and with maxillofacial operations, which are performed in order to treat inflammatory processes, congenital and acquired defects of the face and jaws, and benign and malignant tumors. Orthodontics studies and eliminates anomalies, deformations, and defects of the jaws and teeth. Pedodontics, a branch of dentistry that has developed in the 20th century, is concerned with the treatment of diseases of the teeth and mouth in children, taking into account the special characteristics of each period of child development. Drugs, physical-therapeutic procedures, ultrasound, high-speed drills, and special high-frequency devices are used in the modern treatment of diseases of the oral cavity.
The latest developments and advances in dentistry in the USSR are discussed in the journal Stomatologiia (Dentistry; Moscow, since 1937). The journal was published under the title Sovetskaia stomatologiia (Soviet Dentistry) from 1931 to 1936, Odontologiia i stomatologiia (Odontology and Dentistry) from 1927 to 1930, and Zhurnal odontologii i stomatologii (Journal of Odontology and Dentistry) from 1923 to 1926. Outside the USSR, journals dealing with dentistry include Caries Research (Basel, since 1967), Journal of Dental Research (Chicago, since 1919), and Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine and Oral Pathology (St. Louis, since 1948).
A. I. RYBAKOV