New York dentistry a century and a quarter ago. Selections from an upstate dentist's diary

Charles C. Elmendorf, a dentist in the upstate New York village of Penn Yan, kept a daily diary from 1863 to 1910. The author has selected the years 1872 and 1873 for examination, since these were years of major ferment in the practice of dentistry. The foot-treadle drill was invented, the use of the rubber dam and cohesive gold foil became standard practice. Dentists were struggling to use the newly introduced anesthetics. Organized dentistry was in its infancy and licensing was not yet adopted. The profession was also plagued by swarms of poorly trained or even untrained men who entered the field, and by the extortion of dentists by the Goodyear Dental Rubber Co., a practice that ended only after a rousing fight led by the eminent Dr. S.S. White, and a sensational murder case.