preview

Who Is Dr. Horace Wells Involved In Dentistry?

Decent Essays

Dr. Horace Wells born in January 21, 1815 to January 24, 1848 was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in dentistry, specifically nitrous oxide (or laughing gas). Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Wells was educated in Walpole, New Hampshire before studying dentistry in Boston. Wells first bore witness to the effects of nitrous oxide in 1844 when he volunteered to have it demonstrated on him by Gardner Quincy Colton, a member of a traveling circus. Wells felt nothing, and was the first patient to be operated under anesthesia, having his tooth extracted later that year by his associate, John Riggs. He gave a demonstration to medical students at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1845. However, the gas was

Get Access