23. Dentistry emerged in the late medieval period
As with other medical intervention during the medieval period, dentistry was for the most part restricted to a response to existing problems rather than preventive treatment. Islamic physicians developed methods of responding to problems with the teeth, including the filing away of decay and filling the cavity. These procedures made their way to Europe, where they were available only to the wealthy, and only to those in the largest communities. Despite the existence of various means of cleaning teeth toothache was a common problem, as was the loss of teeth. By the fourteenth century false teeth, again available only to the rich, were fairly common.
Those without the resources to visit one of the professionals which became known as dentatores visited a barber-surgeon to have troublesome teeth pulled, or they simply let them rot away. Charms and potions were used against the pain of toothache, with results which can be imagined. Driving a nail upon which the words agla Sabaoth athanatos were inscribed into a tree was a Welsh cure for toothache (it had to be an oak tree) and one could cure the tooth pain of another by carving the victim’s name into the tree. Various gargles were known as well, used both to clean the teeth and ease pain. Many relied on wine as the main ingredient.