Dr. Paul Koltronis and Associates
450 Franklyn Street V9R 2X7 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Interesting Facts about Dental History -In 1866, Lucy Beaman Hobbs became the first licensed female dentist. -In 1986, the winner of the National Spelling Bee won by spelling ODONTALGIA (which means toothache) -The average amount of money left by the tooth fairy in 1950 was 25 cents. In 1988 it was $1.00, the going rate now is $2.00.... -The earliest dentist known by name is Hesi-Re. He lived in Egypt over 5,000 years ago. -The first toothbrushes were tree twigs. Chewing on the tips of the twigs spread out the fibers, which were then used to clean the teeth. -Ancient Greeks used pumice, talc, alabaster, coral powder or iron rust as toothpaste. -George Washington never had wooden teeth. His dentures were made from gold, hippopotamus tusk, elephant ivory and human teeth! -In 1905, Dental Assistant Irene Newman was trained to clean teeth. She became the first Dental Hygienist. See more

Interesting Facts about Teeth and Dentistry -The average person spends 38.5 total days brushing their teeth over a lifetime. -People who drink 3 or more glasses of soda each day have 62% more tooth decay, fillings and tooth loss than others. Put down the pop and sports drinks and pick up some nice fresh water instead. -Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body. However, we do not recommend that you use your pearly whites to open bottle caps!... -If you don’t floss, you miss cleaning 40% of your tooth surfaces. Make sure you brush and floss twice a day! -If you're right handed, you will chew your food on your right side. If you're left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side. -Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a million dollars on chewing gum. -More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones. -Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different -The average woman smiles 62 times a day. The average man smiles about 8 times a day. -Kids laugh around 400 times a day, adults just 15 times a day. -Giraffes only have bottom teeth. -Just like finger prints, tooth prints are unique to each individual. -The average person only brushes for 45 to 70 seconds a day, the recommended amount of time is 2-3 minutes. -78% of Americans have had at least 1 cavity by age 17. 1882 was the year commercial floss was first manufactured. -The most valuable tooth belonged to Sir Isaac Newton. In 1816 one of his teeth was sold in London for $3,633, or in today's terms $35,700. The tooth was set in a ring! (source: Guinness World Records 2002). -More than 300 types of bacteria make up dental plaque. -Dogs have 42 teeth, cats have 30 teeth, pigs have 44 teeth, and an armadillo has 104 teeth. -A snail's mouth is no larger than the head of a pin, but it can have over 25,000 teeth! -The elephant grinds its molars and grows new ones. This happens six times in a lifetime! An elephant's molar is about 7 inches square and can weigh over 6 pounds -The Blue Whale is the largest mammal on earth, but it eats only tiny shrimp because it has no teeth. -The Crocodile Bird flies into the open mouth of a crocodile and cleans the crocodile's teeth! -There are 10-12 teaspoons of sugar in a single can of soda. See more

FUN FACT FRIDAY French Dentistry Renaissance We really tried to come up with a fun title for this one, but couldn’t quite figure out the right one. Between 1728 and 1757 two books on dentistry were written by Pierre Fauchard and Pierre Bourdet. Fauchard was a fresh thinking, modern dentist for his time. He wrote a section of his book, titled The Surgeon Dentist about orthodontics and talked about several ways to straighten teeth. In particular he discovered a device he call...ed a Bandeu which was similar to a mouthguard and was thought to help teeth stay in their intended position. In 1757 the dentist of the King of France, Pierre Bourdet, wrote his own book and expanded on Fauchard’s Bandeu device. Bourdet was able to improve the device in several ways, and made the important discovery that the rear wisdom teeth could be removed to avoid crowding, a common cause of crooked teeth in adults even today. The book titled The Dentist’s Art was popular for a long time and is an important part of dental history.

FUN FACT FRIDAY!!! Ancient Braces Some of the very first braces were crude designs found on mummies in ancient Egypt. And while we could make some joke about how long it took to correct crooked teeth (3-5000 years?) it’s just impressive that a culture thousands of years old was able to envision correcting teeth. The first braces were made of cord from animal skin attached to teeth the same way a modern dentist would attach wire braces. Thankfully you don’t have to use this co...rd anymore, it was commonly referred to as ‘cat gut’ for reasons we don’t care to know. As early as 1000 BC Archeologists have suggested the first orthodontic procedures were practiced in Greece. Ancient Etruscans used mouth guard type devices to protect a recently deceased body and keep the wearer’s teeth from collapsing inwards after time. Researchers attribute this to a death ceremony that prepared the body for the afterlife. The Etruscans preceded the Romans in Italy.

FUN FACT FRIDAY!!! The history of dentistry is almost as ancient as the history of humanity and civilization with the earliest evidence dating from 7000 BC. Remains from the early Harappan periods of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BC) show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years.[2] It is thought that dental surgery was the first specialization from medicine. The term dentistry comes from dentist, which c...Continue reading

FUN FACT FRIDAY!!! Caroline Arcini, an anthropologist at the National Heritage Board in Lund, Sweden, analized 557 skeletons from four major Viking burial sites in Sweden. The skeletons date from AD 800 to AD 1050. The results of the study, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2006, revealed that 24 of them (10 per cent of men, but none of the women) have horizontal grooves across their upper front teeth. The grooves were cut deep into the enamel and ...are often found in pairs or triplets. Dental modification is a practice characteristic for many cultures around the world: during their voyages to Spain and the Mediterranean, Vikings could become aware of such practice after encountering West Africans there. However, African teeth modification was different, with teeth filed into points. As it seems, the only place where people cut similar horizontal grooves on their teeth at the same period is the area of the Great Lakes and the present states of Illinois, Arizona and Georgia in the United States. It is uncertain whether this fact may be another proof of the Vikings’ contacts with the native population of the North America around AD 1000. The marks on the teeth of Vikings do not seem to be functional, they are rather ornamental. Dr Arcini noted that they are so well made that a person who filed the teeth should have had great skill. What was the meaning of the grooves that were possibly filled with pigment remains a mystery. They possibly pointed to some kind of achievement or were seen as a mark of social identification. The grooves might have marked those who had them as members of a certain group of warriors or tradesmen, or signified their ability to withstand pain. Future finds may reveal where such a practice arose and how it spread.

FUN FACT FRIDAY!!! Oldest tooth filling was made by an Ice Age dentist in Italy Scared of the dentist? Be glad you don’t live in the Ice Age. A pair of 13,000-year-old front teeth found in Italy contain the earliest known use of fillings made out of bitumen.... The teeth, two upper central incisors belonging to one person, were discovered at the Riparo Fredian site near Lucca in northern Italy. Each tooth has a large hole in the incisor’s surface that extends down into the pulp chamber deep in the tooth. It is quite unusual, not something you see in normal teeth, says Stephano Benazzi, an archaeologist at the University of Bologna. Benazzi and his team used a variety of microscopic techniques to get a close look at the inside of the holes, and found a series of tiny horizontal marks on the walls that suggest they were cavities that had been drilled out and enlarged, likely by tiny stone tools. The markings were similar to those Benazzi and his colleagues found in teeth from another site in Italy, dated to 14,000 year ago, that they determined were the first known example of dentistry in humans. But these new teeth also have a new dental innovation. The holes contain traces of bitumen, with plant fibres and hairs embedded in it, which Benazzi thinks are evidence of prehistoric fillings. While the purpose of the plants and hairs is unknown, it appears that they were added to the cavity at the same time as the drilling, so are not simply the remains of food eaten later. The Paleolithic dentist would have drilled out the cavities and filled the holes with bitumen to reduce pain and to keep food out of the pulp chamber, just like in modern dentistry, says Benazzi.

Good morning. We just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow Friday, June 7th our office will be closed so Dr. Koltronis, Dr. Ziehr and Dr. Hyatt can continue their education on cutting edge dentistry. If you are having a dental emergency please call 1-866-260-3449 to reach the emergency dentist on call. Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Thursday everyone!

A cute colouring sheet for our mini patients:)

Loving this weather!!!