Original edition of the first book specializing in odontological research.
Paris, 1743.
Bunon, Robert. Essay on the diseases of the teeth, where methods are proposed for ensuring their good formation from an early age and for preserving them throughout life. With a letter discussing some particular opinions of the author of Orthopedie.
Paris, Briasson, Chaubert, et De Hansy, 1743.
In-12 of xii pp., 237 pp., (3). Full marbled calf from the period, cold fillet around the boards, ribbed spine decorated, snag at the foot of the spine, gilt fillet on the edges, red edges. Binding from the period.
166 x 93 mm.
Original edition of the first book specializing in odontological research.
Weinberger, Introduction to the History of Dentistry, pp. 313; 405; David, French Bibliography of Dental Art, p. 46; Garrison-Morton, n° 3672.1. Hirsch I, p. 768.
Robert Bunon (1702-1748) is considered one of the great French dental surgeons following Pierre Fauchard. He was notably the first to provide a scientific study of dental hypoplasia, observed among patients he received at La Salpêtrière and at the General Hospital.
The “Essay on the diseases of the teeth” is considered the first book specializing in odontological research; Bunon synthesizes all of his previous publications.
Very early on, he advocated the extraction of milk teeth to facilitate the alignment of permanent teeth; he also opposed the aberrant idea that pregnant women could not receive dental care (see “Dissertation on a very pernicious prejudice.”).
Protected by Jean-François Caperon, the dentist of Louis XV, Bunon was appointed dentist to the Ladies in 1747.
One of the outstanding French dentists in the period following Fauchard’s Chirurgien dentiste (1728) was Robert Bunon, who was the first to perform specialized odontological research. Garrison-Morton.
Dissatisfied with the incomplete coverage of dental problems found in the works of Fauchard and Gerauldy, Bunon addressed issues such as dental erosion, tooth development, and the prevention of dental caries and other dental diseases in his Essay, the first of his significant dental works. Three years later, he published Experiments and demonstrations . . . to serve as support and proofs to the Essay . . . , in which he proved the assertions of his earlier Essay through a series of dental researches conducted on patients at La Salpêtrière and at the hospital of St. Côme-the first such ever performed. In this work, he discussed for the first time the genesis of enamel hypoplasia (which he found was caused by various childhood diseases), as well as the prevention of tooth decay; he also included the first dental pharmacopeia. “(Hoffmann-Axthelm, History of Dentistry, pp. 207-9).
Very fine copy devoid of any foxing and preserved in its period binding, a most rare condition.
