Page 391 - dimkoutroumpas

SUMMARY Ancient Greek Dentistry is part of medicine and is developed alongside, but not as an autonomous science. The very beginning of dental and oral issues in medical texts is found in the Hippocratic Collection. However, the treatises including the bulk of the dental knowledge are of questionable authenticity. Especially, the title On Dentition does not correspond to the content of the 32 constituent aphorisms. Probably, it is a writing of the first post-Christian centuries. Nevertheless, within the Hippocratic texts, dentistry is founded as special therapeutic discipline. Thanks to the Hippocratic teaching, dentistry rejected any transcendental element and was founded on the solid basis of rationality and observation. From Hippocrates’s era (5th century A.D.) until the Roman imperial period, Ancient Greek Dentistry expands rapidly, reaching its apogee with Galen of Pergamum (2nd century A.D.). Especially the first two post- Christian centuries AD, the progress which had been made in ancient dentistry can be classified as explosive at least. Until nowadays, quotes on oral and dental issues from 28 doctors have survived mainly through the treatises of Corpus Galenicum. Since they were leading personalities of ancient Greek medicine this demonstrates the great importance that they gave on diseases of the oral cavity and teeth (dental arch). Along to these, we must add the contribution of Aristotle who had a catalytic influence on dentistry, and also that of Julius Pollux the author of the lexicographic work Onomasticon. In Onomasticon, a surprisingly large number of entries recorded concern dental and oral issues implementing thus the development of the science of the mouth and teeth in the middle of the 2nd century BC, which had evolved enough to have a specialized vocabulary. In contrast, the Latin literature of the early Christian centuries has not corresponding