Dental Practice in Europe at the End of the 18th Century

Here is presented for the first time an overview of dental practice and the providers of dental treatment at the close of the eighteenth century in some of the major countries of western Europe and further afield. It draws on previously under-explored primary sources, rigorously referenced, and enables comparison of and contrast within the emergent specialty in rapidly-changing social and political environments. The overall picture challenges conventional wisdom and will be of interest to social as well as to dental and medical historians.

Christine Hillam studied at the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne. She gained her PhD on ‘The Development of Dental Practice in the Provinces from the Late 18th Century to 1855’ at the University of Liverpool in 1986. Formerly Research Associate and Honorary Research Fellow at the Universities of Birmingham and Liverpool, respectively. She has published extensively on the history of dentistry, was editor of The Roots of Dentistry and author of Brass Plate and Brazen Impudence. She was also editor of the Medical Historian (1988-91) and the Lindsay Society for the History of Dentistry from 1998 until her death in 2000.

"…an extremely valuable presentation of a series of wide-ranging, thorough investigations of hitherto untapped primary sources…" - in: Medical History, Vol. 50, No. 2 (2006)
"…a rich collection." - in: Wellcome History, Issue 30 (Autumn 2005)
"This is a splendid book, bold in conception and successful in realization. … The scholarship is uniformly impressive … written in clear and readable style … essential reading for any dental historian, and strongly recommended for anyone with an interest in their profession in general." - in: British Dental Journal, Vol. 196, No. 4 (February 28, 2004)
"… a land-mark event in the publication of dental history scholarship … Those with a serious interest in dental history will need a copy." - in: The Dental Historian, No. 41 (2004)