Oral hygiene and popular science: Paolo Mantegazza (1831–1910) and the question of sugar in dental caries

This historical study examines the contribution of the Italian physician and anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza (1831–1910) to the early understanding of the relationship between sugar and dental caries. In his Elementi d'Igiene (1864), one of the most influential Italian manuals of public health, Mantegazza conducted a series of laboratory experiments to investigate whether sugar could chemically damage teeth. His results led him to conclude that sugar exerts no direct chemical action on enamel, but that its harmful effects depend on fermentation processes – an interpretation that anticipated, decades in advance, the modern microbiological explanation of caries. This work highlights Mantegazza's pioneering empirical approach, which reflected the emergence of experimental hygiene in 19th century Italy, even in the field of dentistry, and his broader commitment to promoting scientific knowledge as a tool for public education and preventive medicine.