ROME: Evidence has been found of the world’s oldest dentists, who drilled teeth to remove decay about 9,000 years ago. Treatment was carried out in an area of what is now Pakistan, using tiny, flint-tipped wooden drills, that rotated at about 20 times a second, say scientists who reconstructed the implements.
Italian researchers who examined 300 skeletons exhumed from an ancient burial site discovered nine had drilled teeth. Some of the holes were in teeth at the back of the jaws, indicating that they had not been made for decorative purposes. Wear and tear on the surfaces near the holes confirmed that drilling had been performed on patients who then continued to chew on the teeth.
“The treatment would have been excruciatingly painful because the vibrations would have been very low and very strong,” said Professor Alfredo Coppola of Rome University’s human biology department. However, it was possible that pain relief had been offered, said Prof Coppola, whose team worked on the project with researchers from France, Mexico and the United States. “This area is well-known for its opium production, so perhaps drugs were used,” he said. Drill bits used for making bone, shell and stone beads were also found at the site at Mehrgarh in Balochistan.
Scientists believe that local expertise in making jewellery was used for the early dentistry. The holes made by the drills were deep enough — at up to one-third of a centimetre — to expose sensitive nerves. Although no filling materials have been found, the researchers believe that the holes were probably packed with bitumen, resin or cotton, which has since disintegrated.
Prof Coppola described the drill, which his team reconstructed, as an “ingenious invention” which worked by pulling a string that spun the end and made the flint tip revolve. Although 20 times a second would have been considered a fast speed 9,000 years ago, modern dental drills rotate at 20,000 times a second. Previously, the earliest known evidence of dentistry was found in teeth from a graveyard in Denmark dating from about 3000BC.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service
