"THE DENTIST"
By Jan Miense Molenaer
(1610-1668)
In this painting the patient clutches in his right hand a chain, probably one of those worn around the neck as a charm against toothache, which seems to have done little good in this case.
How near to the truth they were in the 1600s. Today we believe that destruction of tooth enamel by acids resulting from bacterial metabolism of food deposits followed by bacterial invasion through the broken barrier is (among others) an accepted etiology for dental caries.
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