Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848) was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in medicine, specifically the use of nitrous oxide (or laughing gas). Although he was urged to patent his discovery, he never did, believing that freedom from pain should be "as free as the air we breathe."

Wells's groundbreaking discovery revolutionized pain management in both medical and dental procedures, marking a pivotal moment in the history of surgery and transforming it from a traumatic, painful ordeal to a more humane and tolerable practice.

Early life

Wells was the first of three children of Horace and Betsy Heath Wells, born on January 21, 1815, in Hartford, Vermont. His family had notable connections to American history: his grandfather, Captain Hezekiah Wells, served in the American Revolution, and his grandmother, Sarah Trumbull, was associated with Jonathan Trumbull, who served as Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution. His parents were well-educated and affluent landowners who possessed extensive land near the Connecticut River, which allowed him to attend private schools in New Hampshire and Amherst, Massachusetts, including a private boys' school with Mr. Ballard in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. During his formative years, Wells showed demonstrative and inventive abilities, which led to him becoming an inventor in adult life. Due to his family's privileges, it is assumed that he completed his apprenticeship under Dr. N. C. Keep, who received recognition for his expertise in mechanical dental art and later became Dean of the Harvard Dental School in 1868. The first dental school did not open until 1840 in Baltimore.

At age 23, Wells published a booklet An Essay on Teeth in which he advocated for his ideas in preventive dentistry, particularly for the use of a toothbrush. In his booklet, he also described tooth development and oral diseases, where he mentioned diet, infection, and oral hygiene as important factors. In this work, he was a strong advocate of preventive practices, dedicating an entire chapter to the subject. He recommended the use of a brush for teeth cleaning and wrote: "Those teeth which are frequently cleansed with a brush seldom or never decay." John Riggs later became his partner. Wells also received a certificate from the renowned chemist and geologist Dr. Charles Jackson for his invention of gold solder.

The following day, December 11, 1844, Wells conducted a trial on himself by inhaling nitrous oxide from a paper bag brought by Colton and having John Riggs extract his wisdom tooth. At Wells's request, Colton taught him how to prepare the nitrous oxide gas, and during the following weeks, Wells and Riggs continued using the gas during tooth extractions as an anesthetic.

With Morton's help, Wells organized a demonstration session in the presence of Dr. John Collins Warren, the Chief of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. On April 7, 1845, Wells advertised in the Hartford Courant that he was going to dissolve his dental practice, and referred all his patients to Riggs, the man who had extracted his tooth, stating that the "excitement of this adventure (Boston) brought on an illness from which I did not recover for many months, being thus obliged to relinquish entirely my professional business."

In October 1846, Morton gave a successful demonstration of ether anesthesia in Boston, leading to the naming of the amphitheater as the "Ether Dome," which was published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in November. The effects of sniffing chloroform and ether were unknown at the time. His self-experimentation with these substances led to mental disturbances.

Wells rushed into the street on January 21, 1848, his 33rd birthday, and threw sulfuric acid over the clothing of two prostitutes whom he addressed as "abandoned females." He was committed to New York's infamous Tombs Prison. As the influence of the drug waned, his mind started to clear and he realized what he had done. He asked the guards to escort him to his house to pick up his shaving kit. He died at the age of 33. He is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.

Legacy

Twelve days before his death, the Parisian Medical Society voted and honored him as the first to discover and perform surgical operations without pain, recognizing him as "the first person, who first discovered and performed surgical operations without pain…and to the last day of time must suffering humanity bless his name" and stating he was "due all the honor of having successfully discovered and applied the use of vapors or gases whereby surgical operations could be performed without pain."

The American Dental Association honored Wells posthumously in 1864 as the discoverer of modern anesthesia, stating "that to Horace Wells of Hartford, Connecticut belongs the credit and honor of the introduction of anesthesia in the USA," and the American Medical Association recognized his achievement in 1870, agreeing "that the honor of the discovery of practical anesthesia is due to the late Horace Wells of Connecticut." The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery posthumously bestowed a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1994. On the 50th anniversary of Wells's discovery in 1894, an organization of dentists and physicians was formed in Hartford, Connecticut, called "The Horace Wells Club." This organization provides scholarships to Connecticut dental students who show significant accomplishment in the field of sedation and annually awards individuals with significant accomplishments in the same field. They maintain the statue of Horace Wells in Hartford's Bushnell Park and arrange fundraisers in his honor, using the raised funds to maintain and restore Wells's tomb in Cedar Hill Cemetery and contribute to local suicide prevention organizations.

The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery awarded him an honorary posthumous degree (Doctor of Dental Surgery, DDS.) on October 10, 1990.

Wells's discovery laid the groundwork for the development of anesthesiology as a medical specialty, leading to further discoveries such as ether and chloroform.

  • The story of Dr. Wells' self-experimentation with drugs was explored in an episode of Science Channel's Dark Matters: Twisted But True in a story entitled "Jekyll vs Hyde", comparing it to the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
  • A full-length theatrical production, entitled Ether Dome, written by Elizabeth Egloff and directed by Michael Wilson centers around the story of Horace Wells' discovery of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic, as well as the life of his protege and partner, William Morton.
  • The novel The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist by Michael Downs was published on May 15, 2018, by Acre Books, and it is based on Horace Wells' life.

See also

  • Dental anesthesiology
  • Humphry Davy
  • Crawford Long
  • James Young Simpson
  • Nathan Cooley Keep, Who was the tutor of both Horace wells and William Morton.