At some time in the past, you may have seen the revolving pole outside a shop, painted red and white, and sometimes blue as well. For many of us, this will stir images of the high-backed chairs and white-draped figures, shaving foam, and old-fashioned razors of barbershops. Even after most of these shops have been replaced by the more fashionable updated hair salons, some of them still sport the candy cane-striped pole in one form or another.

Historically, barbers were also your dentists and surgeons, performers of tooth extraction and enemas, bloodletting, and wound surgery. These barber-surgeons formed their first official organisation in France in the year 1096, after the archbishop of Rouen prohibited the wearing of a beard. These shops were as they are today the communities meeting place where one would seek advice on personal matters and receive services to keep everyone healthy.

Later, as medicine became more defined as a field of its own, efforts were made to separate the academic surgeons from these barber-surgeons. In Paris, about 1210 A.D., identification of the academic "surgeons as surgeons of the long robe" and the barber-surgeons as "surgeons of the short robe" was established and still a trademark used today over 800 years later.

Nowadays I think hairdressers and dentists have different things in common. Of course, people see the hairdressers to cut their hair for lifestyle convenience and people visit dentists for hygiene purposes but more importantly, in today's generation we are paying more attention to our appearance. A person’s haircut can totally change the way we perceive someone’s face just as changing someone’s appearance of teeth can also change the feel of someone’s face.

So next time you’re at the hairdressers trying out a new hairstyle, why not try out a new smile makeover too? :D

This article was written by Diane Richards of Aidencare Dental, for more information about our dental director see below:

Dr. Oscar Sum is a dentist in Shanghai practicing in central Shanghai who performs Implant surgery, Orthodontics, and other advanced dental procedures. Please call scan the QR code to enquire about an appointment with Dr. Sum