Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 785

PIERRE FAUCHARD (1678-1761) Le chirurgien dentiste. Chez Pierre-Jean Mariette et chez l'Autuer 1746 2nd ed. Vol. I: xxiv [8] 494 pp., front. (port.), 8 plates; Vol. II: [12] 425 [18] pp., 34 plates. 16.9 cm.

No other individual in the history of dentistry played a more important role in its development than Fauchard. As a youth he was apprenticed to a French naval surgeon--Alexander Poteleret (fl. 1700)--who was knowledgeable in dentistry and taught Fauchard the fundamentals of medicine and dentistry. In all likelihood, Fauchard never served in the military but did practice in the French provinces for some twenty years before moving to Paris in about 1715. In Paris he was rapidly accepted as one of the leading dentists and his great skills and accomplishments brought him fame and notoriety throughout France. Publication of the present work in 1728 was immediately hailed as a major development in the dental profession because it incorporated the entire doctrine of theoretical and practical dentistry as it was then known and practiced. Fauchard's book did meet opposition because, before its publication, most dental knowledge was kept secret and shared with others only on a profit making basis. Nevertheless, Fauchard's masterful treatise became extremely popular, went through three editions, and retained its influence for over half a century. Many authorities feel that this second edition is superior to the first because of its revisions, corrections, and additional material. Detailed and comprehensive, the treatise begins with tooth development and progresses through all aspects of preventive dentistry as well as operative and restorative dentistry. In addition to the many new contributions in the book, this second edition also contains the first accurate description of pyorrhea alveolaris.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 3671 (1st ed., 1728); Waller 10621; Wellcome II, p. 12

Gift of John Martin, M.D.