Working-class health cultures before the National Health Service have long been of scholarly interest but those related to oral health are chronically underexamined. This article examines one important aspect of this history-tooth pulling-in early twentieth-century Lancashire. By highlighting the dynamics of market supply and demand, it demonstrates how and why the tooth pulling services of non-orthodox practitioners called dental mechanics remained popular despite the increasing monopolization of oral health by dentists. Dentists characterized mechanics as quacks, but working-class Lancastrians sought out these mechanics because they formed a trusted part of their communities. This demonstration of a population's preference for unorthodox over orthodox practitioners provides a much-needed counter-narrative to professionalization in oral health and highlights the significance of geographically specific traditions over the values of medicine and science.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwae036DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

oral health
12
health
5
'monty bring
4
bring blood
4
blood can!'
4
can!' pulling
4
pulling teeth
4
teeth working-class
4
working-class lancashire
4
lancashire 1900-48
4

Similar Publications

Background: Nearly 25% of opioid-related deaths are from prescribed opioids, and the exacerbation of the opioid epidemic by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic underscores the urgent need to address superfluous prescribing. Therefore, we sought to align local opioid prescribing practices with national guidelines in postoperative non-metastatic breast cancer patients.

Methods: A single-institution analysis included non-metastatic breast surgery patients treated between April 2020 and July 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The synergistic bioactive effect of polyphenols can enhance the development of functional foods to prevent chronic diseases such as cancer. Curcumin and quercetin have been shown to possess anticancer properties. The combination of curcumin and quercetin has been shown to provide synergistic effects against cancer cell proliferation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cheek swabs, heterogeneous samples consisting primarily of buccal epithelial cells, are widely used in pediatric DNA methylation studies and biomarker creation. However, the decrease in buccal proportion with age in adults remains unexamined in childhood. We analyzed cheek swabs from 4626 typically developing children 2-months to 20-years-old.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Depressive symptom is the most common type of psychiatric co-morbidity among persons with epilepsy. Epilepsy patients are identified as at higher risk of suffering depressive symptom explicitly in low- and middle-income countries due to poor mental health care systems and financial burdens. The co-occurrence of depressive symptom among epilepsy patients deteriorates the prognosis of the disease and diminishes the quality of life of both the patients and their families.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Oromia regional state experiencing cholera outbreaks in a protracted pattern despite various interventions at local and regional levels. This study aimed to examine the implementation of Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities for cholera outbreak control in the region.

Methods: We conducted a quantitative and qualitative mixed-method study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!