Where Do Dentist's Drills Come From?

 Dentitstry  

People have been drilling teeth for thousands of years, but the modern dental drill is continuing to evolve and improve.

Most of us have leaned back in the reclining chair, closed our eyes and let the masked man come at our mouths with that device that we know as the dental drill. Perhaps the whirring sound makes us tense, we have to breathe deeply to relax and let the dentist do his work. The dental implement we know today, though, is centuries away from how it began over 9000 years ago.

Prehistory

In 2005, archaeologists found drilled human teeth in a graveyard in Pakistan. Among nine adults, eleven holes had been drilled into molar teeth. The tool used 7000 years BC was a sharpened stone, or jade, and was turned by hand or using a bow.

The Mayans also practiced tooth drilling. They employed a tube-shaped piece of jade with a sharpened end, which was twirled between the hands. There is evidence that this technique was borrowed from jewelry makers, with drilling done to decorate teeth with precious stones.

Innovations of the 18th Century

After centuries of chipping at teeth with chisels, dental drills came back into use in the 18th Century thanks to French doctor Pierre Fauchard, considered by many to have fathered modern dentistry. In 1728, he published a book in which he mentions a metal rod with a handle, turned with a bow, used for root canal work.

In 1778, the first mechanical drill came into use, turned by a hand crank. Not exactly advanced technology, this tool at least helped in the removal of decayed tooth matter without the tedious and painful chipping away that had become the norm in earlier centuries.

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The 19th Century

1829 brought the innovation of James Nasmyth, who drove his drill with a wire spring. Charles Merry adapted this method with a flexible extension cable in 1858.

British dentist George Fellows Harrington invented a wind-up drill in 1864. Called the “Erado”, this drill was noisy and cumbersome. Despite these difficulties, the Erado was fast, and ran about two minutes before needing a rewind.

The earliest pedal machine was probably created by George Washington’s dentist, John Greenwood, who adapted the treadle of a spinning wheel in 1790. The foot-operated bellows pump, invented by George F. Green, was introduced in 1868. James B. Morrison created a pedal-driven belt drill in 1871. Morrison’s was noisy, as well as expensive, but like Green's, it offered better speed control. Finally, the electric drill, patented by Green in 1875 was the revolution the dental hand piece was ready for.

Modern Drills

In 1949, John Patrick Walsh introduced the air turbine hand piece, the most used drill until the presentation of John Borden’s contra-angle drill. While Walsh’s drill was rapid and quieter, it was Borden’s that would become, in the late 1950s, an industry standard, with an important reduction in vibration and noise. The angle also made getting at back teeth easier.

With speeds that reached 100 times those of earlier drills, pain related to dental work was reduced significantly. Because of the higher speeds and the heat resulting from friction, the bits, or burrs, were developed from tungsten carbide. Though one of the most recognizable tools of the dentist, a drill from Richards Micro-Tool may be overthrown by newer technologies, such as “air-abrasive”, where small particles are blasted at the tooth with air. Laser have been approved for soft tissue work and its use for hard tissue is being studied. Patient comfort, less pain and, of course, less noise may make these methods the winners over the dreaded dentist’s drill.

By Meghan Belnap

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