Aim: To present the historical development of specific instruments used for mastoidectomy and their resulting implications for this surgery. Method: Compilation of original written documents, trade catalogues and collections of instruments used in mastoid surgery, with a review of the secondary literature on the subject. Results: The first surgical opening of the mastoid was performed by Petit in 1736 with a trepanation system. More than one and a half centuries later, in 1873, Schwartze codified the operation using chisels and gouges. At the end of the nineteenth century, Macewen introduced the electrical dental burr for mastoid surgery, but it remained largely unrecognised. At the beginning of the 1950s, the systematic use of the microscope in car surgery allowed generalised use of the drill and improvement of the suction-irrigation system. Conclusion: Three instrumental periods are recognisable in the history of mastoidectomy: the trepan period, the chisel and gouge period, and the electrical drill period.
