Pierre Fauchard.
If one takes into consideration the by no means slight inconvenience to which fixed artificial teeth gave rise, one cannot but admit the aversion to them, expressed by Göritz and others, to have been justified.
Ernst Ferdinand Gebauer, in 1726, made known a case in which, a tooth having been badly extracted by an incapable surgeon, the upper jaw was so seriously injured that a diffusive carious process ensued, which after many years’ suffering brought the patient to the grave.[405]
Johann Bernhardt Fischer (1685 to 1772), a very famous doctor, born in Lübeck, who had the honor of becoming archiater of the Russian Empire, related, in 1726, a case of replantation, similar to those by Pomaret and Carmeline; but Heinrich Bass (1690 to 1754), of Bremen, professor of anatomy and surgery in Halle, endeavored to demonstrate that in these cases the tooth did not really take root, but was rather maintained in position by the contracting of the surrounding gum. One perceives from this that there were still, at that time, discordant opinions on the subject of replantation, and that this operation was far from occupying, in dental surgery, the accredited position it has acquired today.
Heinrich Bass also combats the abuse of extracting teeth inconsiderately, without absolute necessity, and expresses the opinion that this is especially blamable in the case of teeth of the upper jaw, principally because the extraction of either the canine or of the first or second large upper molars might easily produce the opening of Highmore’s antrum, and thus give rise to regrettable accidents. He is not, however, averse, like Göritz, to the use of artificial teeth; indeed, he advises the application of whole dental sets, even in the upper jaw, so long as there be two natural teeth existing to fix the prosthetic piece to.[406]
Pierre Fauchard, the founder of modern scientific dentistry, was born in Brittany about the year 1690, and died at Paris in the year 1761. His celebrated work, Le Chirurgien Dentiste, was already written in the year 1723, but not published until 1728. It marks a new epoch in the history of dental art. The most renowned physicians, surgeons, and anatomists of the time testified their admiration for Fauchard’s work, which was translated into German in 1733, and afterward went through two French editions in the years 1746 and 1786.[407] We have been able to obtain the second edition[408] of this most important treatise, and of this we now intend making use for accurately analyzing the work, as it is probably more complete than the first, whilst the third, having been published after the author’s death, is probably merely a reprint.
The work consists of two volumes in duodecimo, in all 863 pages. In the beginning there is the portrait of the author and a long and interesting preface. The portrait, which we here reproduce, has also its historical importance, and this for two reasons, the first of which being that in it Fauchard is revealed to us as a person of very distinguished appearance, and this gives us an idea of the social condition of the surgeon-dentists of his time; the second, because there are annexed to the portrait the following Latin verses, by a certain Moraine, in which, whilst eulogizing the writings of the author and his ability in the treatment of the teeth, and in restoring force and beauty to them, he counsels him “to despise the tooth of envy,” as it will certainly break against his merit.
Dum dextra et scriptis solamina dentibus affers
Illorum in tuto sunt decor atque salus.
Invidiæ spernas igitur, Faucharde, cruentos