Roots

Ever since ancient peoples used bow drills to relieve their tooth pain, dentistry has been a universal human endeavour. Practised as haphazard butchery for millennia, some of its brutal elements were still the norm when the first Canadian dental school west of Toronto - the only one for more than a thousand kilometres in any direction - was founded in a remote community on the northern prairie where the railway ended.

From a former fruit farmer creating instructional dental models by hand, to a determined woman battling institutional sexism to create the country's second school of dental hygiene, to a desperate political fight against closure in the Ralph Klein era, the unlikely century-long story of the University of Alberta's School of Dentistry is vividly brought to life here, alongside a history of dentistry from toothworms to virtual reality.

Award-winning journalist Taylor Lambert is your historical tour guide for a witty narrative journey with surprising tales that even the most fervent dentophobe can sink their teeth into.

Now available in trade paperback for purchase online, at the U of A Bookstore.