Believe It or Not…..

In the Ancient Egyptian Culture dental infections often lead to death.  It was very rare for a dentist to pull an infected tooth, in fact, instead a doctor would drill a whole in a person’s skull in order to drain the infection.  Opium was commonly used to alleviate the pain of this procedure.

Although there are some signs of dental restorations found in excavated mummies, they are believed to be preformed postmortem.  One mummy was discovered with thin gold wires holding the teeth together, replicating a bridge.

Many mummies are discovered with their teeth still in place, this might be because of the surplus of calculus surrounding the remaining teeth.

Strangely enough, cavities were not a common ailment in Egyptian culture.  A popular food of the time was corn flour, processed by adding sand.  It is thought that the sand wore the teeth down so rapidly that cavities were simply ground away.

In 400 BC there is a noticeable improvement in the wear of teeth, possibly because of improvements in the methods of creating flour.

Fun Fact:  Nefertiti had lost all of her teeth by the time she died in her 40s.

Tags: ancient egyptian, dental, mummies, teeth, tooth infection