title: Driven out by Hitler, a dental historian enriches America: the story of Curt Proskauer.
abstract: I n 1956, workers in Rome, Italy, digging for the foundation of a building, uncovered an extensively decorated catacomb. The Vatican declared it to be a hitherto unknown Christian cemetery, dating from around the year 300. The discoverers were amazed at the fresco paintings, most of them biblical scenes. But one particular fresco was destined to set the world of medical history on its ear! The scene was interpreted as a surgeon performing an operation, and it was duly reported as such by the New York Times. It took a renowned dental historian, Dr. Curt Proskauer, using logical deduction, to disprove that conclusion. The result was to push back our knowledge of certain medical procedures by a thousand years!
authors.affiliation: School of Dental Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA.
authors.forename: Malvin E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ring
mesh_terms: D003815:Dentists / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D006665:History of Dentistry; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D014481:United States