Reg Webb's Pedal Drill Engine 

This SS White dental engine, circa 1899, belonged to Reginald Webb, founding member and 1917 president of the Queensland Odontological Society. Reg's dental practice stood in Queens Street, near the corner with Albert Street, Brisbane.

The engine was donated to ADAQ by Reg's grandson in 2017. Gary Smith, prosthodontist and ADAQ's honorary curator, lovingly restored it over many months. It is now in working order and on display in a recreated dental surgery of the era.

To work this mechanically powered dental engine, the foot pedal is pushed up and down to turn the flywheel which is the power source. The spring connected to the pedal ensures the flywheel comes to rest in a position where it can be started again. These drills replaced the various hand and finger drills dentists used previously.

Watch Gary operate the drill on video!

Gary attached a modern bur onto the handpiece, and pedalled away: slowly but steadily, you can see the enamel on the tooth model is reduced to dust.

The history of the treadle engine begins with John Greenwood, George Washington's dentist. James Nasmyth is credited for inventing the spiral cable that connects to the hand piece. This particular model was invented in 1871 by the American dentist James Beall Morrison (1829-1917). The handpiece that came with this has a right angle design with an ebonite grip. The more balanced contra-angle design was invented in 1905.

Morrison's model was the most popular with dentists everywhere, as it sped up cavity preparation enormously, for those times. Even then, a tooth preparation could take over 30 minutes of continuous pedalling. With its vibrations and distinct noise, it must have been horribly uncomfortable for the patient to bear!  Incredibly, these dental engines were still in use in dental schools in the 1940s. Highly portable, they served military dentists on camp in WW2 and travelling dentists in remote areas where electricity was unavailable.