[From a hippopotamus tooth to a porcelain tooth].

The history of dentistry is written as if thousands of years of obscurity were followed by a couple of hundred years of enlightenment. The turning point was the work of the Father of Modern Dentistry Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761). But historically speaking this notion of progress has theoretical and practical disadvantages. In this article a practical example is given, that of porcelain. The production developed completely in the times of obscurity and only a simple pharmacist just saw the possibilities of the result in dentistry.