Monday, Feb. 7, 2022
Does a recent social media post picture ancient Egyptian dental work?
A picture circulating on social media, claiming to be "Ancient Egyptian dental work from 2000 BC," is actually a photo of dental work done at the turn of the 20th century. The ancient Egyptians did have a type of dentistry. However, the photo circulating online does not show an original example of it, but rather a re-creation.
Patrick Cutter, an assistant director at the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore, told Lead Stories:
"The image in question is actually two non-credited images of an item we have at the museum. The item is a replica of an Egyptian-style gold bridge made by Italian dentist and dental historian Dr. Vincenzo Guerini in the 20th century. He made a number of replicas from ancient techniques around the world, using more contemporary skull pieces."
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Nature The practice of dentistry in ancient Egypt
- University of Maryland School of Dentistry Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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