title: [Dental aspects of general symptoms in the 18th century].
abstract: In the 18th century, numerous diseases with symptoms of oral cavity were cured by chirurgien-dentist, barber-surgeons, or tooth drawer. The so called "dentitio difficilis" was blamed for the high children mortality, therefore gum cut or use of leeches was advised as a treatment. Both acute and chronic type of gum inflammation was called scurvy. It seems that the mechanical removal of plaque was enough to cure the scurvy as it was written in advertisements from that time. Syphilis was present in the everyday life throughout centuries, and assumed to cause different stigmas in the oral cavity. Today we consider theses stigmas as the toxic signs of mercury treatment.
authors.affiliation: Semmelweis Egyetem, Altalános Orvostudományi Kar, Közegészségtani Intézet, Orvostörténeti Munkacsoport, Budapest. forjud@net.sote.hu
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Forrai
mesh_terms: D019024:Barber Surgeons / Q000266:history; D046688:Child Mortality / Q000266:history; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history*; D005881:Gingiva / Q000473:pathology; D014943:Global Health; D006665:History of Dentistry; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000266:history*; D012614:Scurvy / Q000150:complications / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000266:history*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000150:complications / Q000266:history*; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history*; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous