One of the main advantages of living in the modern era is our access to safe, pain-free, effective dentistry. During the Roman Empire, however, dentistry was more advanced than you may be aware.
The Romans adopted many of their dental practices from their predecessors, the Etruscans. The Romans used opium for pain relief during dental treatments. Roman dentists were able to insert gold fillings into decayed teeth and may even have been able to replace missing teeth with primitive forms of dental prosthetics. They removed any gold fillings and teeth from the mouths of corpses before burial, however. In the Etruscan belief system it was considered taboo to allow gold objects to come into close proximity with the dead.
At University Associates in Dentistry, we honor the daring spirit and dedication to healing which those Roman dentists showed. Our own equipment and procedures, however, are fully modern. To find out more about we help present-day Chicagoans care for their teeth, visit our website or call us at (312) 704-5511.
