From the January 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Each month, we visit Dr. Blaufox’s Museum of Historical Medical Artifacts to take a look back at the medical equipment that cleared the way for what patients encounter in doctors’ offices and operating rooms of today. Some equipment may be recognizable, while other featured inventions have since become obsolete or have had their usefulness discredited.
The picture and description appear courtesy of Dr. M. Donald Blaufox, M.D., Ph.D., from his website: www.mohma.org.
Category: Pre-19th Century Dental Instruments
Estimated Date: 1714
Name: Molar Extractor
Description: 5” molar extractor of steel with rivet joint. Brass plate or possibly even gold on each arm with a groove claw grip. Date (1714) is engraved on one plate. The other plate has writing as well, but it is illegible. It has been suggested by some that these are nutcrackers and not dental instruments. The Museum of the History of Science at Oxford has a number of dental forceps which look very similar. The British Dental Association also shows one on its website. Finally, a number of instruments are shown in a book by Bennion. All are identified as dental forceps. They may well have been of dual purpose, but their use as tooth extractors appears to be unquestionable.
