Healers
Horace Wells
Dentist
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Horace Wells, a Hartford dentist, began using nitrous oxide to control pain in his own practice in 1844 after observing its effects at a traveling exhibition. His January 1845 public demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital failed when the patient cried out in pain, discrediting Wells at the time; he is nonetheless credited by many historians as the first to conceive of surgical anesthesia as a practice, ahead of Morton's later, better documented success with ether.
Facts
Death DateDied in New York shortly after a self-experimentation episode with chloroform, following the collapse of his dental practice and reputation after the failed 1845 demonstration. Cross-Tradition Connections
Held Differently
Anesthesia, Treatments Demonstrated nitrous oxide anesthesia publicly in January 1845, a year before Morton, but the demonstration failed and was not credited at the time.
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