THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

BYZANTINE WORLD
and
WESTERN EUROPE ( 5 TH TO 12 TH)
 A.D 476 Decline Western Roman
Empire.

Why?
 Number of slaves in the empire.
 Rise of Christianity.
 National wealth to armed forces (To attack
differentes tribes).
 BYZANTINE WORLD

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great modeled his

eastern branch of the Roman Empire, which became
the Byzantine Empire.
 BYZANTINE WORLD
Constantine chose the city of Byzantium for his new capital,
renaming it as Constantinople in 330 C.E.
The Byzantine empire remained for more than a thousand years,
until its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
 DENTISTRY IN THE BYZANTINE WORLD

In general: No advances in medical or scientific

thought were made during the Byzantine era.

Only contribution: language & culture preservation.

The principal activity of the Byzantine medical

workers was the compilation of earlier knowledge.
Illustration in a ninth century Byzantine copy of an earlier illustration of
Hippocrates. It shows the recommended method of reducing a dislocation
of the lower jaw.
DENTISTRY IN THE BYZANTINE WORLD

Oribasius (325 – 403AD).

Rewriting of the works of Galen,

and his references to dentistry.
 DENTISTRY IN THE BYZANTINE WORLD

PAUL OF AEGINA (625-690AD)

SUMMARIZED THE BASIC MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS.
• PAUL OF AEGINA first to write of the need to
scale the teeth, removing tartar with chisels.

“Fossilized dental plaque”

• PAUL OF AEGINA: proper oral hygiene , warning
about foods that may leave a sticky residue upon the
teeth.

• Most important time to clean teeth was after the last

meal of the day.
Afterwards, Dentistry in the Byzantine World sank
into the torpor of the Dark Ages, a sleep that was
to last until the Renaissance.
WESTERN EUROPE: FIFTH TO TWELFTH
CENTURIES
 WESTERN EUROPE: FIFTH TO TWELFTH
CENTURIES
The Middle Ages in Western Europe were the period between
the collapse of the Western Roman Empire (476 A D) and the
Renaissance in the 14 th century.

Incursions by the barbarian tribes of the north destroyed:

- Cities
- Artworks
- Cultural treasures
 WESTERN EUROPE
The barbarians´ descendants remained in post-Roman
Europe.
 WESTERN EUROPE
These descendants formed modern nations by
standing up to new waves of raiders from
the North (the Vikings) and conquerors from the East
and South, like the Arabs.
 WESTERN EUROPE

Christian control of thought and

learning: monastic medecine, no
rational principles.
 WESTERN EUROPE

• In general, church counseled prayer instead of

surgery.

• Tooth extraction when possible was avoided.

“for along with the tooth its connection to the brain

and lung was also ripped out!”
 WESTERN EUROPE
• The earliest changes in medieval medical
thought and practice took place in SALERNO.

• There, in 10th century, independent schools

where medicine was taught and studied were
established.
 WESTERN EUROPE

THE EDICT OF THE COUNCIL OF TOURS

• During Middle Ages, medicine in Europe by
monks.

• The church promulgating edicts to limit

monk´s medical activities, saying this would
neglect their regular clerical duties.
 WESTERN EUROPE

THE EDICT OF THE COUNCIL OF TOURS

• The first edict was issued in Clermont, 1130.

• The most important, announced at Tours in

1163, declared that the practice of surgery by
monks was forbidden.
 WESTERN EUROPE
Surgery during the Middle Ages

Surgery as separate and inferior to the profession of

medicine.
 WESTERN EUROPE
Surgery during the Middle Ages
Henceforth all surgeons
came to be treated as
inferior to practitioners
of general medicine.

The schism between

medicine and surgery
widened, much to the
detriment of medicine.