[Concepts and findings in dentistry in medical dissertations from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries]

This historical paper deals with medical dissertations from the second half of the 18th century which deal with stomatology. 30 of the 100 consulted dissertations were translated from latin with great differences in scientific content and style, because they dated from the 16th to the 18th century. The views of normal anatomy and physiology of that time are described. Strange views were held on the embryological development. Apart from toothache, dentitio difficilis in children, aphtous stomatitis, cleft palates and the respective therapies were described. The scientific content of those dissertations was way backward when compared to contemporary text book literature.