Ars scientia mores: Science comes to English dentistry in the seventeenth century. 1. Medical publications and the Royal Society

Abstract

During the late seventeenth century scientific knowledge came dentistry, much of it through the activity of the new Royal Society, which was initiated by gatherings in London and Oxford from 1645 and formally established in 1660 after the restoration of the monarchy. The Society received its first charter from Charles II in 1662 and from 1665 onwards published its Philosophical Transactions. This paper outlines items published in that journal, and other relevant scientific publications of the century, applicable to dentistry. A companion paper employs Allen's dental treatise, The operator for the teeth, first published in York in 1685 to provide the evidence that he was aware of several of these scientific findings of his day. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.