Final answer:
While specialized dental practitioners existed, many medical and dental practices were historically interlinked. Figures such as Robert Tanner Freeman and Ida Gray Nelson Rollins illustrate the progression of dentistry as a specialized field. In ancient times, like during Hippocrates' era, dental work may have been part of medical practice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question of whether dental work was done by physicians from the very earliest of times is complex, as historical evidence shows that specialized dental practitioners existed, but many medical and dental practices were interlinked. We can look at the case of Robert Tanner Freeman, the son of former slaves, who was the first African American to graduate with a doctorate in dental surgery. Freeman apprenticed under a White dentist, and after initial rejection, he was admitted to Harvard Dental School alongside another student, George Franklin Grant, in 1867. Grant later became Harvard's first Black faculty member and a pioneering figure in the care of patients with congenital cleft palates. Furthermore, Ida Gray Nelson Rollins became the first female African-American doctor of dentistry. These historical accounts illustrate the progression and specialization in the field of dentistry that differentiate it from broader medical practice.
Going further back in history, the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), known as the 'father of Western medicine,' considered diseases to have natural causes rather than supernatural ones. The practice of medicine in Hippocrates' time involved various procedures that we would now associate with dental work, such as tooth removals. Although Hippocrates' approach was more systematic compared to earlier practices, the specialization in dentistry as distinct from general medicine developed much later.