Dentistry Through The Ages: 1523: The Tooth Drawer

Above is a 1523 woodcut by Lucas van Leyden. A man, standing before an open-air dentist's shop, is having a tooth extracted by a public toothdrawer; a young woman is standing behind the patient picking his pocket. The dentist's tools are arranged on a table.

Ah, the more things change... just replace the pickpocket with any health insurance company.

Credit: Courtesy of The National Library of Medicine