When speaking about the history of contributions to dentistry, no list would be complete without mentioning Ambroise Paré. Having worked in a time when there was no such thing as dental specialists, Paré was a true Renaissance man who was well versed in multiple aspects of medical science. While the techniques and procedures he used may seem primitive by today’s standards, his knowledge of dentistry was at the cutting edge for the 16th century.
It’s natural for us to only look at the most recent developments and discoveries in the realms of dentistry and medicine and ignore the early pioneers, but without trailblazers like Ambroise Paré, we’d never have achieved the marvels of science that surround us in the twenty-first century. Living in Oklahoma, his life in Medieval Europe may seem far away, but his legacy continues on in the treatments and amenities that patients today can easily take for granted.
Let’s take a moment to look back on who Ambroise Paré was and how his endeavors helped to advance dentistry.
Who was Ambroise Paré?
Ambroise Paré was what was known as a barber surgeon. He was born in northwestern France in 1510 to an artisan father, and trained at the Hôtel-Dieu, France's oldest hospital. He was a renowned practitioner of medicine and dentistry during his lifetime, and he attended to a number of kings, including Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III.
His interest in the medical fields began at a very young age. His older brother was also a barber-surgeon in Paris, and Paré was first apprenticed to him, before going on to study under other leading doctors of the time. The list of achievements associated with his name is a long one, as he was a surgeon, modern forensic pathologist, dentist, anatomist, inventor, and battlefield doctor, among other occupations.
What were dentistry and medicine like in Ambroise Paré’s time?
It should go without saying that dentistry and medicine were vastly different in the 16th century compared with today. Just the fact that Paré was known as a barber surgeon should tell you a lot.
A barber surgeon was a common, though specialized, profession of the Middle Ages in Europe. The reason for the name was that barber surgeons were excepted to serve both the functions of a medical surgeon, such as drawing blood and pulling teeth, but also act as a barber, including bathing, shaving, and cutting the hair of their clients. While there are a number of complicated reasons for how this custom became commonplace throughout Europe, one of the simplest explanations is their was a large overlap in the tools of a barber and a surgeon, including a variety of knives, razors, and other implements, that could be used for both occupations.
One of the primary tasks of the barber surgeon during this period was treating wounded soldiers during and after battle. Medical treatments, both on and off the battlefield, would frequently be a joint effort, with a physician diagnosing and prescribing remedies for patients, and the barber-surgeon actually performing any surgical procedures that might be deemed necessary. These might range from treating an infected tooth to amputating limbs.
During Paré’s time, the mortality rate was unsurprisingly quite high. This was due to many reasons, including some of the primitive treatments still in use, such as the application of leeches, cutting people to induce blood loss, and very little understanding of the nature of infection. Even the wealthy could die from something that today would seem quite ordinary, like a tooth infection.
What is Ambroise Paré most famous for?
Ambroise Paré was probably best known for his advancements in battlefield medicine, unsurprising considering the prevalence of warfare during this time and the tremendous demand for surgeons to treat the wounded. He was also known for having invented several surgical instruments, which were of particular use to dentists at the time.
One reason for his success was that Paré was recognized as being a keen observer. He made it a point to not allow his judgments to be influenced by the common wisdom of the day, and was always looking for evidence and explanations of why things worked the way they did. In this way, he was an early proponent of the scientific method.
For instance, one morning following a battle, he was surveying a group of patients. Some of them had been treated with a traditional remedy, made up of boiling elder oil and cauterization. Another group had been treated with egg yolk, oil of roses, and turpentine. The former group of soldiers was suffering in agony. The other group was on the way to recovery. We now know that the turpentine acted as an antiseptic. Despite not knowing the reason, Paré refused to use the traditional remedy any longer and began advocating the new treatment based on the positive results.
Additional advancements attributed to Paré include the ligature of arteries during amputation, the identification of phantom limb sensation, some of the first successful neurosurgical procedures, and a novel process for bullet extraction.
Your Grove, Oklahoma Oral Surgery Specialist
As an early dentist, Paré’s circumstances were obviously much different from what we are familiar with today. The ways that Paré went about such tasks as tooth extraction and the treatment of jaw fractures and tooth decay would seem primitive to us. But just the simple fact that he is believed to have popularized the use of dental implantations should be enough to earn our respect.
Fortunately, dentistry has come a long way since Ambroise Paré’s time. The facilities and techniques at Grand Lake Dental might seem far removed from Medieval France, but the truth is that if it weren’t for dentists like Paré, who knows how many of the amenities we rarely think about never would have been developed. That’s why Dr. Jobst and the entire team at Grand Lake Dental like to take the time to acknowledge the pioneers who dedicated their lives to advancing dental science.
With our advanced equipment and technology, Dr. Jobst is proud to serve the families of Oklahoma. You can rest assured that when being treated by Dr. Jobst, you’ll always receive the best available treatments combined with personal, attentive care.
Call us today to make an appointment.