who invented dental floss, and when did dentists start to recommend flossing?
Dental Fillings – Dental Amalgam Cavities are holes in our teeth created by the wear, tear, and decay of tooth enamel. Dental cavities have been repaired or filled with a variety of materials including: stone chips, turpentine resin, gum, and metals. Arculanus (Giovanni d’ Arcoli) was the first person to recommend gold-leaf fillings in 1848. History of the Debate about Mercury “French dentists were the first to mix mercury with various other metals and plug the mixture into cavities in teeth. The first mixtures, developed in the early 1800s, had relatively little mercury in them and had to be heated to get the metals to bind. In 1819, a man named Bell in England developed an amalgam mix with much more mercury in it that bound the metals at room temperature. Taveau in France developed a similar mixture in 1826.” Dental Floss Dental floss is an ancient invention. Researchers have found dental floss and toothpick grooves in the teeth of prehistoric humans. Levi Spear Parmly (1790-1859), a
