First dentures

From about 700 BCE the Etruscans, people who lived in Etruria (today’s Umbria and Tuscany in Italy), were the first able to create dentures and artificial teeth. The teeth were either from another person or from an animal such as an ox – they were placed in a golden rim with a metal pin/tang and fitted to the remaining teeth. Only the rich could afford such a “dentist”.

Due to the lack of dentists in the sense we know today, such an operation was performed by a doctor. The photo shows a copy of the original prosthesis with two teeth, which was found in a tomb in Etruria.