1956 Text Shines a Light on Dental Lamp

We have an exciting research update on a one-of a-kind dental bleaching lamp unit in our collection! The tooth bleaching lamp is a custom piece of equipment, about 18 inches long, from its tear-shaped metal base to its conical point. Until recently, it had been on display in the Storeroom Discoveries exhibit at the Sindecuse Museum. We’ve come to learn that an article from the 1956 book, Clinical Endodontics, a Manual of Scientific Endodontics, features an image of this exact piece of equipment that’s in our collection (SMD0111.0001). 

Image shows lamp use

Our dental bleaching lamp is seen at work, aimed at a patient’s mouth, in this image from Clinical endodontics, a manual of scientific endodontics. The book is by faculty member Ralph Frederick Sommer, F. Darl Ostrander and Mary C. Crowley, published by Saunders in Philadelphia, 1956. The digitized copy that was brought to our attention can be accessed through this link to its record on HathiTrust.

In the 1950s, U-M Dentistry “was at the forefront of endodontics,” according to Sindecuse collections coordinator, Adam Johnson. This book was the go-to text for students and practitioners who specialize in treatment related to the tissues inside the tooth (including dental pulp), and the tissues surrounding our teeth. The article has given us a better sense of how the tool was used, and clearer documentation of its provenance within the School of Dentistry. 

Initially we heard cosmetic tooth bleaching wasn’t yet a process during this period, but this lamp was custom-made at U-M and already in use by the 1956 publication of Clinical Endodontics. The lamp was made specifically for the bleaching of teeth that had been through root canal procedures. Use of the lamp with a bleaching solution was a way to lighten teeth that had been discolored over time.

According to the article, the lamp used a combination of heat and light to activate a strong solution of 25% hydrogen peroxide. The mixture was activated by a Superoxol-soaked cotton that was placed inside the canal. The percentage of peroxide used was so strong that a barrier of Vaseline or cocoa butter had to be used to keep the chemical from touching and damaging the gums. 

Sindecuse Museum curator and director Shannon O’Dell and collections coordinator Adam Johnson recently had a chance to meet and talk with Newell Miller (DDS 1962) who was a student of Professor Ralph F. Sommer. Dr. Miller had worked with Prof. Sommer when they used this particular model in the Endodontics Clinic, and Sommer may have helped to design the lamp. Miller recalled that a patient more than likely sat with the lamp pointed to the discolored tooth for twenty minutes. Miller also recalled that at the time U-M was trying the use of silver cones to fill the canal where the root of a tooth had been. Silver that may have been stronger than the gutta percha commonly used, but that the metal may have caused more discoloration to the tooth. 

At the museum, we’ve been excited to add more to our file on this unique object through this combination of professional networking, in-person fact-finding and digitized historical resources.