Bonwill electromagnetic mallet, with Dr. M.H. Webb's improvements, cased, by the S.S. White Co., USA, 1880-1890

This was the first dental device to utilize electricity, patented by William Bonwill in 1873. An electrified dental hammer or mallet (nicknamed a dental plugger), It was used to ‘plug’ cavities with gold - like modern day fillings.

Bonwill’s design was improved and successfully marketed by Dr. M.H. Webb in 1877, and this mallet is an example of this design.

These devices were also used in early tattooing, with Samuel O’Reilly – the inventor of the electric tattoo machine – stated in a number of interviews in the 1890s that an adapted dental plugger was his first tattoo machine.