A brief history of the development and use of vulcanised rubber in dentistry.

Until the late nineteenth century, denture baseplates and removable orthodontic appliances were usually made of gold. Though now largely forgotten, the discovery of vulcanised rubber was instrumental in making these forms of dental treatment widely available to the general public. While Charles Goodyear is recognised for his role in the development of vulcanite in America, that of Thomas Hancock in the UK is less well-known.

The strange history of surgical gloves in orthopaedic surgery (part I): from no gloves and no hand washing to the introduction of cotton gloves in orthopaedic surgery.

PURPOSE: The goal was to evaluate the advent of surgical gloves during the eighteenth century, nineteenth century, and the beginning of the twentieth century. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used first drawings and paintings, then historical photographs identified in books after 1830 (date of discovery of the photography) or in medical reports of surgery and anesthesiologists. The pictures determined the presence or absence of gloves in the period corresponding to the changing understanding of aseptic and antiseptic techniques proposed by Lister and Pasteur. RESULTS: There was an evolution of the material of gloves, but surgeons throughout time remained significantly opposed to gloves for a long period. Concerning materials, the caecum of a sheep, cotton, silk, leather, and crude rubber were used before the introduction of latex by Goodyear. For surgeons, gloves were introduced initially to protect theatre staff's and surgeon hands from infection and not to protect the patient. Many surgeons contributed to the evolution of surgical gloves, and the use of gloves was an evolutionary process rather than a discovery. The probability that a surgeon had gloves on photographs was 0% in 1860-1870 (period of Lister and Pasteur), 5% in 1890, 28% in 1900, 42% in 1910, 48% in 1920, 58% in 1930, and 75% during the World Word II and reached 100% only in 1950. CONCLUSION: While some reports suggest that by 1920, the use of gloves in surgery became routine practice, in reality, around 30% of trauma surgeons were not wearing gloves until 1939.

[The way of the rubber]. / El camino del caucho.

Investigations first by Markham, and then by Spruce, performed in the middle of multiple risks, in the deep of dense jungle, through the wild rivers and facing up natives many times hostile, brought the knowledge of the life cycle of Hevea brasiliensis, the rubber's tree, necessary for take its seeds to Asia, its adaptation to this continent and its culture at industrial level. Undoubtedly these men were the heroes of this history, but they were wise, modest and quite people, so the glory was for an entrepreneur decided and of scare scruples, like Wickham. And Brazil, as a good Latin American nation, sinned of naivety, improvidence and negligence, allowing itself the lost of an unimaginable fortune: the monopoly of the rubber. Because the many applications of rubber in medical practice, the history of this tree may interest our colleagues.

El camino del caucho / The way of the rubber

Resumen Las investigaciones de Markham, primero, y luego de Spruce, llevadas a cabo en medio de múltiples peligros, internándose en selvas espesas, vadeando salvajes ríos y enfrentando nativos muchas veces hostiles, permitieron conocer el ciclo de vida del árbol del caucho para el traslado de sus semillas, su aclimatación en Asia y cultivo a nivel industrial. Indudablemente ellos fueron los héroes de esta epopeya al hacer esta investigación venturosa, pero los sabios son modestos y callados, de manera que la gloria se la llevó un empresario decidido y de pocos escrúpulos cual Wickham. En cuanto a Brasil, como buena nación latinoamericana, pecó de ingenuidad, improvisación y negligencia, dejándose arrebatar una inimaginable fortuna: el monopolio del caucho. Creemos que las múltiples aplicaciones médicas del caucho, haciendo menos dolorosos los exámenes y procedimientos, pudieran ser de interés para nuestros colegas.

Investigations first by Markham, and then by Spruce, performed in the middle of multiple risks, in the deep of dense jungle, through the wild rivers and facing up natives many times hostile, brought the knowledge of the life cycle of Hevea brasiliensis, the rubber's tree, necessary for take its seeds to Asia, its adaptation to this continent and its culture at industrial level. Undoubtedly these men were the heroes of this history, but they were wise, modest and quite people, so the glory was for an entrepreneur decided and of scare scruples, like Wickham. And Brazil, as a good Latin American nation, sinned of naivety, improvidence and negligence, allowing itself the lost of an unimaginable fortune: the monopoly of the rubber. Because the many applications of rubber in medical practice, the history of this tree may interest our colleagues.

Technical inventions that enabled artificial infant feeding.

Artificial feeding of infants, called hand-feeding, was unsafe well into the 19th century. This paper aims to identify technical innovations which made artificial feeding less dangerous. In rapid succession from 1844 to 1886, the vulcanization of rubber, production of rubber teats, cooling machines for large-scale ice production, techniques for milk pasteurization, evaporation and condensation, and packing in closed tins were invented or initiated. Remarkably, most of these inventions preceded the discovery of pathogenic bacteria. The producers of proprietary infant formula made immediate use of these innovations, whereas in the private household artificial feeding remained highly dangerous - mostly because of ignorance about bacteria and hygiene, and partly because the equipment for safe storage, transport, preparation and application of baby food was lacking.

Surgical gloves.

Surgeons and obstetricians, over the centuries, were only too aware that accidental open injuries during their work, especially in a septic case, could lead to an infected wound, a fulminating illness and often death. Even before the bacterial nature of infection had been established in the mid 19th century, it was still obvious that this dangerous and often fatal condition was caused by the transfer of some poisonous material or 'miasma' from the patient to his surgeon. As long ago as 1758, an obstetrician named Walbaum protected his hands by covering them with sheep's caecum. Others used gloves of cotton, silk and leather. After Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanisation process to stabilise rubber in 1844, this became the material of choice for these rather crude protective gloves.

[The advent of surgical gloves]. / L'épopée des gants chirurgicaux.

The advent of surgical gloves had a double evolution. Evolution of the material: cecum of a sheep, cotton, silk, leather, rubber. Originally introduced to protect theatre staff's hands from corrosive solutions, subsequent use was to protect the patient from contamination by theatre staff. Many surgeons contributed to the evolution of the surgical gloves. The use of gloves was truly part of an evolutionary process than a discovery. The turning of surgical gloves is now incontestable, and their use more and more important. Surgical gloves must secure a crossing protections between surgeon and patient.

From vulcanite to vinyl, a history of resins in restorative dentistry.

This article provides historical background on the development of resin-based dental restorative materials. With an understanding of the evolution of these materials, clinicians can better appreciate both the complexity of and similarities among the wide variety of resins and polymerization techniques available today. Common problems associated with the use of resin-based materials are explained, and more advanced resin-based systems currently under development are briefly reviewed.

New York dentistry a century and a quarter ago. Selections from an upstate dentist's diary.

Charles C. Elmendorf, a dentist in the upstate New York village of Penn Yan, kept a daily diary from 1863 to 1910. The author has selected the years 1872 and 1873 for examination, since these were years of major ferment in the practice of dentistry. The foot-treadle drill was invented, the use of the rubber dam and cohesive gold foil became standard practice. Dentists were struggling to use the newly introduced anesthetics. Organized dentistry was in its infancy and licensing was not yet adopted. The profession was also plagued by swarms of poorly trained or even untrained men who entered the field, and by the extortion of dentists by the Goodyear Dental Rubber Co., a practice that ended only after a rousing fight led by the eminent Dr. S.S. White, and a sensational murder case.

The evolution of the complete denture base. Theories of complete denture retention--a review. Part 1.

The history of denture base materials and the accompanying development of impression techniques are traced from the earliest times to the present day (Part 1) as a prelude to a study (Part 2-4) of the various theories that have been advanced to explain retention of the base without mechanical support. These theories are critically reviewed and tabulated in chronological order. Some areas for further investigation are identified.