St. Appolonia – Patron saint of Dentistry, was canonized in Rome in 300 b.C. She was tortured and
her teeth were brutally extracted, after which she was burned at the stake, in 249
A.D., because she would not renounce to Christianity. Patroness of persons suffering
from toothache and saint protector of the dentist, her feast day is February 9.
St James of Compostela – “Santiago del Diente” apostle and martyr, was one of the three witnesses of the Transfiguration of Christ and his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. He was also
the first apostle to die for Christian faith. His cult in Spain, flourished on the concept
of James as the powerful defender of Christianity against the Moors.
Temple of the Tooth – Kandy, Ceylon now Sri Lanka, houses the most venerated sacred relic of the Buddhists, the tooth relic of lord Buddha, kept in a golden bell shaped container. The relic is being carried out once or twice a year on Buddist holiday.
Hesy – Re – The earliest dentist depicted on stamps, born about 2700 B.C., near Memphis, Egypt. He become Chief of the Physicians or Wr Sinw, and Chief of the Toothers or Wr Ibh. His tomb and statue were discovered in Sakkara in 1912 by Quibell.
Imhotep – An important miracle-working doctor. By 500 B.C. was raise to a God of Medicine. There is a Theory that Imhotep was identical with Hesy-Re.
