BACK IN MEDIEVAL times in England (and in most other places, to be fair), people didn’t have a great understanding of what caused cavities or gum disease, but they still cared about having fresh breath. It wasn’t just out of politeness — they believed that bad smells could carry disease on their own, including bad breath.
Medieval Breath Fresheners
So what was their smell-based dental care? They chewed spices, which we can see an example of in the Canterbury Tales where Chaucer’s characters stay fresh by chewing licorice and cardamom. We also know that women were sometimes recommended a mixture of aniseed, fennel, and cumin to chew.
Cracking a Tooth on Your Bread
Some of the modern causes of dental problems didn’t apply back then. Cavities wouldn’t start to become common until the sugar trade reached England in the 1400s. However, grinding flour between millstones tended to leave tiny chips of stone in their bread. It was pretty easy to crack a tooth on that, and it was a big reason many adults lost several teeth in their lifetimes.
Strange “Cures” for Toothaches
Aside from combating bad breath, they also tried to treat toothaches. The rich could afford myrrh and opium, but everyone else had to make do with dubious remedies like burning a mutton fat and sea holly seed candle near their mouths, which was supposed to lure out the “worms” hiding inside the teeth. (We now know that what they thought were worms were just the roots of teeth!)
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Dr. Kazemi is a board-certified Periodontist & Implant surgeon. She completed her certificate in Periodontal Surgery & Implant Dentistry at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. During her time at USC, she was the President of ‘’Advanced Periodontology Residents Study Club’’ and was selected to receive ‘’Associate endowed scholarship’’ from USC School of Dentistry. Before her time at USC, she earned an MS degree in Clinical Translational Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she received the ‘’Board of trustees Scholarship’’ for academic excellence.
A recipient of several awards and honors, she has also lectured nationally and internationally on implant dentistry and laser dentistry. Dr. Kazemi has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and serves as a peer reviewer and associate editor of scientific journals in the field of implant dentistry and periodontology.
Dr. Kazemi strives to make dental visits a low-stress experience with minimal discomfort. She takes pride in providing high quality evidence based care to each patient based on their unique individual needs. When not working, she spends time with her family & friends, enjoys hiking, working out, cooking and traveling.
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