The ethics of dental practice in London in the sixteenth century. 1. Henry Chettle's Kind-Harts dreame of 1592. An important lay view

Abstract

Kind-Harts dreame (Fig. 1) is one of the proto-novels which first appeared in the Elizabethan age of literary wonders. It recounts the dream of the hero ĝ€" a tooth-drawer (Kind-Hart) ĝ€" who encounters the shades of five recently deceased characters, each of whom had been a famous star of their day in the London scene. Although short, and with medicine and dentistry occupying only part of the tale, the story contains invaluable detailed information about dental care in late Tudor England as observed by a layman. It is also an amusing read. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.