Saint Apollonia Medal Necklace – Patron Saint of Dentists & Dental Health

Saint Apollonia, Patron Saint of Dentists and Dental Health

Apollonia was an elderly deaconess living in Alexandria, Egypt, around the year 249, during a violent wave of anti-Christian persecution under Emperor Philip. She was seized by a mob who beat her severely enough to break out all of her teeth, then threatened to burn her alive unless she renounced her faith. Apollonia asked for a moment, as though she might be considering it, then willingly leapt into the fire herself rather than curse her God, a final act of defiance the early Church saw as remarkable enough that Saint Augustine later addressed the theological question it raised, since taking one's own life was otherwise forbidden. Her story spread quickly, and devotion to her grew into something specific and lasting: because her suffering centered so completely on her teeth, she became, almost naturally, the patron invoked by anyone suffering dental pain, and eventually by dentists themselves. Relics believed to be fragments of her teeth are still venerated in churches across Europe today. She remains, nearly eighteen centuries later, the patron most directly tied to the dental profession in the entire Catholic tradition.

A Gift For...

• A dentist, dental hygienist, or dental technician

• Someone starting dental school, or opening a new practice

• Anyone managing dental anxiety or chronic tooth pain

• A confirmation candidate heading toward a career in dentistry

A Confirmation Gift for Apollonia

For a confirmation candidate already set on a career in dentistry, few saints offer as direct or specific a connection. Engrave a name and confirmation date, and let her story carry the meaning.

The Saint Apollonia Medal

This medal depicts her holding a pair of pincers grasping a tooth, her defining attribute, along with a martyr's palm, her halo radiating outward against an ornate patterned border. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface. The result has a depth and precision that printed medals don't achieve.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive, two lines, up to 20 characters each. Many choose a name and a dental school graduation date, or the date a new practice opened.

Saint Apollonia's feast day is February 9, and nearly two thousand years after her martyrdom, dentists around the world still mark the occasion, a patronage built not around a profession she ever practiced, but around a suffering she chose to meet with defiance instead of despair.