From bamboo pegs to titanium: the long evolution of dental restoration

Health · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: For millennia, humans have sought ways to replace lost teeth, using everything from carved bamboo and precious metals to seashells and ivory. While modern dentistry relies on high-tech osseoin or integration, the journey from ancient Maya to 20th-century surgical breakthroughs is a remarkable saga of biological ingenuity.

The quest for dental replacement is ancient. As far back as 4,000 years ago, inhabitants of ancient China used carved bamboo pegs to replace lost teeth. In ancient Egypt, 2,000-year-old remains show similar pegs made of precious metals, and some mummies even featured transplanted human teeth or ivory. By 630 BC, the Etruscans were using gold bands for dental bridges, a technique the Romans likely adopted by the 5th century BC. Even in the Americas, a 600 AD Mayan woman's mandible shows three missing incisors replaced by seashells, which functioned effectively as evidenced by bone growth around the implants.

The transition to modern dentistry was driven by key figures. Pierre Fauchard, the 'father of modern dentistry,' published the first scientific description of the field in 1728, covering everything from oral anatomy to tooth transplantation. Meanwhile, the 16th-century French surgeon Ambroise Paré pioneered surgical techniques that influenced the field. Denture technology also evolved rapidly: 16th-century Japan utilized carved wooden dentures, while the late 18th century saw the introduction of porcelain dentures by Alexis Duchâteau and the first British patent for artificial teeth by Nicholas Dubois De Chemant in 1791.

The most significant modern breakthrough was the discovery of osseointegration. While researchers in 1940 observed bone growing closely around titanium screws, it was Swedish surgeon Per-Ingvar Brånemark who, in the 1950s, discovered that bone effectively adheres to titanium. While studying bone healing in rabbits, Brånemark found he could not remove his experimental titanium chambers because the bone had grown into such close proximity with the metal. He later applied this to human dental implants, a process officially termed 'osseointegration' in 1981 by Tomas Albrektsson. Today, dentistry continues to advance through 3D printing technologies like stereolithography and digital light processing, allowing for precise models and even 3D-printed toothbuds.

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