I am reading the Penguin Classics edition of Cranford and came across a footnote on the above, which may be of interest.

Surgeons had only separated from the Barbers and Surgeons Company of the City of London in 1745, and they drew teeth, treated wounds and performed amputations. They differed from elite 'physicians' who did not perform surgery. Dentists did not have a professional body until 1857.