De odontagris ad dentes evellendos necessariis, eorum ui mechanica applicationeque.

Carol August Andree (1762-1809, defending student)

Johann Ehrenfried Pohl(ius) (Supervisor of dissertation, 1746-1800, photo above).
Published in Leipzig 1784, Ex Officina Bueschelia. 40 pages.

De odontagris ad dentes evellendos necessariis, eorum ui mechanica applicationeque. (Which liberally translates as: Extraction tools and technique for tooth removal).

Karl August Andree was born in 1762 in Dresden the son of a professor of surgery at the same university. He studied in Leipzig and this dissertation in April of 1784 was for his medical degree. …. Subsequently he oversaw a second thesis on dentition in 1790 Dissertatio medica inauguralis de prima puerorum dentitione ... also on dentition. It seems, Karl August Andree specialized in dentistry. He died at age 46.

The supervising professor, Johann Ehrenfried Pohl (see photo above) had at least 6 other dissertations supervised, according to the WorldCat entries. He was 38 years old when Carol August, age 22 defended his doctorate. Pohl died at the age of 54. Dissertation defense was a public event with members of the entire faculty being present and members of the defending student’s family. In this case, because his father was also a famous surgeon, it is very likely he was in the audience.

The dissertation is a description of the surgical instruments used to extracts teeth. The term odontagra, according to a 18th century Latin dictionary is an obsolete term used for an “extraction metal [tool]”. He starts with the “Pelican an instrument that Fauchard has praised” and Andree appropriately quotes. He is also familiar with Heister’s work, the famous German surgeon whose work was translated in many languages. He follows with the description of the English Key (De Clave Anglica), a term also shared by the French but ironically not by the English, they called it the French Key or Garengeot key. His thesis includes the forceps, an instrument used since antiquity. Finally, the last chapter is about elevators (De pede caprae). The Latin translation of the elevator is “the goat foot”. The thesis includes three detailed illustrations of extraction instruments used in the latter part of the 18th century. Overall, the thesis does not provide any original information. Scultetus, Heister, and Pierre Fauchard, all preceded him in far more details.

^{(Pohl’s photo: Johann Ehrenfried Pohl. Lithograph by F. Kadlik, 1826. Credit: Welcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)}

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^{Editorial notes by Andrew I Spielman.}