Dentist

A physician named Hesi-Re was the earliest dentist whose name is known. He lived in ancient Egypt during the rule of Netjerikhet, 2667-2648 BC, 3rd Dynasty and was called “Chief of the Toothers."

King James IV of Scotland was an amateur dentist. He even paid people to let him practice on their teeth.

The Russian Czar Peter the Great was greatly interested in dentistry and he often assisted dentists in their operations. His retinue of 250 courtiers were unwilling accomplices to his hobby as their monarch carried out spot-checks on the mouths of anyone who happened to be passing and if any tooth looked suspect he removed it. He kept the teeth in a little bag and often showed them off to visitors.

A former school teacher Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman in the United States to earn a dental degree in 1866 after years of failing to gain admission to dental schools because she was female. 

In 1867 Lucy Hobbs Taylor joined her husband James’ practice in Lawrence, Kansas, becoming the first woman to be admitted into a state dental association.

John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851 – 1887), was an Atlanta dentist who moved to the American southwest after being diagnosed with tuberculosis in the hope that the climate would prolong his life. He took up gambling as a profession and earned a national reputation as a gunman.

Nashville, Tennessee dentist William Morrison, was also an avid inventor, and has a number of inventions to his credit. One of them is the first cotton candy (dairy floss, back then) machine, which he invented in 1897 in cooperation with confectioner John C. Wharton.

The Nazi dentist Martin Hellinger, convicted of removing dental gold from victims at Ravensbrück, was released in 1955 and given a special grant to reopen his dental practice.

Greeeen is a popular Japanese pop rock/hip hop/breakbeat vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, who have recorded a number of chart-topping albums. Their logo is of a mouthful of teeth because the four members are actual dentists. They have never shown their faces in the public and their identities are still unknown to protect their dentistry careers.

The president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, was his predecessor’s dentist.

The standard advice to “see your dentist twice a year” was actually invented by an advertising agency for Pepsodent toothpaste.

According to a survey done by Time Magazine, 59% of Americans would rather have a dental appointment than be sitting next to someone talking on a cell phone.

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

40% of Americans have never visited a dentist.

If you are severely scared of going to the dentist,  you have a phobia called odontophobia.