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87 Text C 1. When was Novocaine invented? How important was it for dentistry? 2. What discovery was made in the USA in the early 20 th century? 3. When did the Americans begin to fluoridate water supply? Why? 4. What dental procedures became popular in the 1990s? 5. What dental specialties are there nowadays? 9. Work in groups of three. Read your text and answer the corre- sponding questions above. Student 1: read text A below. Student 2: read text B on page 88. Student 3: read text C on page 88. History of Dentistry Text A Diseases of the teeth and gums have troubled people for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian medical texts, dating back to 3500 BC (до н. э.), provide information about toothaches, pulpitis, erosion and gingivitis. The earliest known dentist was Hesi-Re (or Hesy-Re), an Egyptian «doctor of the tooth» who lived around 3000 BC. The Sumerians believed that dental caries was caused by a «tooth worm». Evidence of this belief has also been found in ancient India, Egypt, Japan, and China. The idea that a worm traveled through your mouth and was the cause of dental pain lasted in Europe until the 16 th century. The Etruscans, who lived in Italy between 1000 and 400 BC, produced the frst dental bridges. They used gold crowns and fxed bridgework to hold the teeth together. The Romans were very careful about their oral hygiene. They used a spe‑ cial powder for cleaning their teeth. Dinner guests were usually given gold picks to remove particles of food. The Romans also treated toothaches, flled cavities, made dental prosthesis (false teeth) and replaced extracted teeth. In China toothaches were treated with acupuncture. They used thin needles to relieve dental pain. The Chinese had developed a silver amalgam paste for flling cavities in teeth by the 7th century, nearly 1,000 years before amalgam was used in Eu‑ rope. The Chinese also invented the earliest bristle toothbrush in the 15th century.