This was first seen in the early 1920’s and it is the technology which made toothaches 90% preventable.  I allowed us to find the decay long before it caused a toothache and then put in a filling.

 
Let me emphasize that.  In the early 1920’s the world was full of civil war soldiers, and former slaves.  They lived in a time when toothaches were almost totally rendered a disease of CHOICE. 

 They were the most significant advance in public health during the first half of the 20^th century.  They prevented more suffering than any other technology up to that time.

 We still live in that time, but sadly, vast portions of the populace will not accept the benefits of that technology.  They won’t go to the dentist for regular x-ray exams.  They demand to treat their teeth as if it was the civil war, and people still drank out of the nearest river.

 We should be as intolerant of toothaches among ourselves as we are about polio, and smallpox, and malaria.  All three of these diseases were tamed after toothaches were tamed.