Page 21 - My FlipBook

DENTAL ART AMONG THE EGYPTIANS 21

dynasty, and he reigned toward 3700 before the Christian era. Hence,
it may be argued that some, at least, of the writings from which the
Ebers papyrus was taken were composed in the ver\' remote epoch to
which we have just alluded, or perhaps still farther, for it is impossible
to know whether the book, deposited b\- unknown hands at the foot of
the statue of the God Anubis, had been written but a short time pre-
vious or at a much earlier epoch.

Part of Ebers' papyrus in Egyptian hieratic characters containing eleven dental prescriptions.
Dental and gingival maladies are in no way neglected in the Ebers
papyrus. At page 72, a remedy is prescribed "against the throbbing
of the benmit blister in the teeth," then two other remedies "to cure the
bennut blisters in the teeth and to strengthen the flesh (gum)."
It is somewhat difficult to say what is meant by bennut blisters;
but perhaps it means small, gingival abscesses of dental origin. The
—
first of the above remedies probably meant to calm the pricking or
throbbing pain that, in such cases, often accompanies the dental malady
—consisted of:
"Seps-grains Part i
Dough I
Honey i
"
Oil I
To be applied on the part as a plaster."