Pierre Fauchard's Contribution to Oral Medicine and Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology: An historical essay.

Abstract

Pierre Fauchard, considered the father of dentistry, contributed to the development of different fields of dentistry that we know today. However, the contribution of this important individual to the fields of oral medicine and oral and maxillofacial pathology is unknown. This study aimed to identify Pierre Fauchard's contribution to these areas of dentistry. We focused on "Le Chirurgien Dentiste, or Traité des Dents" in both French and English, looking for information about the oral diseases diagnosed and treated by Fauchard. Information on patient history, disease description, treatment applied, and clinical follow-up was collected. A contemporary analysis of the diseases was performed, and the collected data were systematized, reported, and analyzed descriptively, according to the current literature on the addressed topics. Information on conditions such as scurvy, parulides, epulides, oral ulcers, dentoalveolar abscesses, dental alterations, and post-exodontia incidents were elucidated. Findings indicated that Pierre Fauchard described, diagnosed, and treated different soft and hard tissue diseases of great interest to the fields of oral medicine and oral and maxillofacial pathology.