Don’t Hide From Your Dental Problems – CBC Can Help!

I recently learned about Columbia Basin College’s Dental Hygiene Clinic and think it’s the coolest thing I’ve heard about all month.

It’s like a beauty college for teeth! CBC has a dental hygiene program where students earn an Associates degree. To help them perfect the skills they learn in the program, CBC has a clinic where local residents can obtain low-cost dental care and preventative work for children, teens and adults. All the students are well-trained and work under the supervision of professional hygienists and dentists. Initial screenings are free to determine the cost of procedures needed. They even offer translation services!

The advances in dentistry are so wonderful. Prior to good schools like CBC training people to be gentle and sympathetic, dentists used to do some pretty weird things. Check some of them out below:

They used to encourage people to swish pee to whiten teeth. It was called Urine Therapy.

It’s true. In first-century Rome, urine was thought to whiten teeth. I wonder if  Bear Grylls has pearly whites.

The Dental Lab Articulator – a Picture is worth a thousand words:

This piece of antique equipment looks like some torture contraption used in the medieval days.

Barbers Were The First Dentists

In the early days of dentistry, barbers would file down teeth and then proceed to dab them with nitric acid in order to whiten teeth. In the end, this would just cause teeth to decay much quicker, which is ironic since they would pull rotted teeth as well. You know the saying, “If you stick around the barber shop, you’re going to get a haircut.” But if the barber is also my dentist using absurd techniques… I suppose I am bound to get a tooth pulled, too.

The Dental Mouth Gag:

This dental accessory is a gadget every dentist could do with out. The mouth gag even looks like it has a mini saw attached to it. Just the appearance of this device is enough to keep my mouth open… because I’d likely be calling for help.

The First Toothbrush With Bristles Used Hair From Animals:

The first toothbrushes with bristles were invented in China around the year 1498. These toothbrushes used the hair from hogs, horses, and badgers in order to make the bristles. Nothing cleans the mouth better than a mouth full of hair.