Germany

In Germany, a dentist named Mesue rediscovered the art of filling teeth with gold-leaf, a method that was prominent in antiquity civilizations but was lost in the middle ages. Mesue used this technique to treat the corrosion of teeth that caused to “holes”, or cavities. (1) In 1756,  another German dentist in the employ of Frederick the Great named Pfaff was the first in the profession to describe the creation of a plaster model of the mouth from a wax impression. (1)

Impressions and modelling became an important step in creating dentures by the 19^th century, hence the significance of this fact. (8) Another macabre yet festinating account details a gravesite that was excavated by workers digging a ditch. Dozens of artificial dentures were found on the corpses, made from ivory and bone with gold plates. This was an interesting find given the volume of artificial dentures found, all in good condition no less. However, it was unclear if these dentures were constructed by jewelers in the Middle Ages or antiquity dentists as the gravesite was unmarked. (1)