Dental practices in ancient China and India: a comparative historical and medical analysis

Aim. To conduct a comprehensive comparative historical and medical analysis of theoretical concepts, diagnostic approaches, hygienic regulations, conservative and surgical treatment methods for dentoalveolar diseases in the traditional medicine of Ancient China and Ancient India.
Material and methods. The source base comprised ancient Chinese medical canons (Huangdi Neijing, Shennong Bencao Jing, Qianjin Yaofang, Xinxiu Bencao) and ancient Indian medical treatises (Sushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita, Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita, Atharvaveda). Comparative-historical, historical-genetic, typological methods, terminological analysis, and medical hermeneutics were employed. The study is historical and documentary in nature, conducted without experimental animals or human clinical trials.
Results. A commonality of early etiological views was identified (the dental worm mythologem — chong ya in China and krimidanta in India) alongside fundamental differences in disease systematization. In Ancient India, Sushruta established a detailed nosological classification of 65 oral diseases across 7 anatomical sites, whereas ancient Chinese medicine viewed dentogingival pathology through the meridians of the Stomach and Large Intestine, defining teeth as the "surplus of bones" governed by the Kidneys. In oral hygiene, India pioneered the institutionalized codification of daily oral care (dantakashta chew sticks, tongue scrapers, oil pulling gandusha and kavala). China established the global historical priority in inventing the bristle toothbrush and utilizing silver amalgam for filling carious cavities (659 CE, Su Gong). The surgical school of Sushruta surpassed Chinese practice in surgical instrumentation (yantras), dental scaling, and maxillofacial traumatology.
Conclusion. The evolution of dentistry in Ancient China and India was determined by foundational philosophical paradigms (Yin-Yang holism and the meridian system in China versus the Tridosha doctrine and anatomical-surgical pragmatism in India). The Indian tradition laid the groundwork for systematic oral pathology, hygiene, and maxillofacial surgery, while Chinese medicine pioneered preventive restorative dentistry, pharmacotherapy, and biomechanical oral hygiene devices.

history of dentistry, Ancient China, Ancient India, Sushruta Samhita, Huangdi Neijing, silver amalgam.