DidYouKnow? FamousTeeth inWesternHistory George Washington had lost all but one of his teeth, a premolar, when he was inaugurated as America’s first president in 1789. When Washington was 24, a dentist pulled his first tooth. In his diary, Washington wrote that he paid 5 shillings to a “Doctor Watson” for the removal. His diary often included descriptions of tooth pain and lost teeth. John Adams said that Washington blamed using his teeth to crack walnuts, but modern historians suggest that Washington took calomel, the mineral form of mercury chloride used to treat smallpox starting in the 16th century, which likely contributed to his tooth loss. Washington had at least four sets of dentures during his lifetime. But contrary to popular notions, none were made of wood. Instead, the dentures were constructed of brass, lead, gold, hippopotamus and other animal teeth and human teeth, and were primarily created by Dr. John Greenwood, his long-time dentist. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, between 1558 and 1603, cane sugar was an expensive but popular imported good among the wealthy. Its price per pound in England was roughly equal to imported spices from Asia, such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and pepper. During this period, people would use quills or wood for toothpicks and remove plaque with a cloth. If a tooth became too painful to tolerate, they could go to a surgeon to have it removed. Some used a sugar paste to try to clean their teeth, hoping it would polish them. In Elizabethan England, black teeth became a symbol of wealth, which gave rise to the fashion among the working classes of artificially blackening their teeth to appear more well-to-do. One French ambassador is said to have remarked that Queen Elizabeth I’s teeth were “very yellow and unequal,” and another went even further, saying “her teeth [were] black.” Before the Queen was willing to undergo a tooth extraction, a bishop had to allow one of his own teeth to be pulled to prove it would be safe to do so. GeorgeWashington(1732–1799) |FalseTeethof aFoundingFather QueenElizabethI (1533–1603) |TooMuchof aSweetTooth NapoleonBonaparte (1769–1821) |MilitaryPrecision Napoleon Bonaparte cared about his oral hygiene, and his teeth were reputed to be strong and white. One of his valets wrote in his memoirs that “for his teeth, he used a toothpick made from boxwood and a brush dipped in opiate.” When Napoleon travelled, he brought a necessaire, a box designed to carry dental hygiene instruments. They would contain at least one toothbrush, featuring a gold or gilded metal handle on the end of which could be attached a wooden head mounted with pig bristles. In 2005, a tooth extracted from Napoleon’s mouth during his exile on island of St. Helena fetched over 11,000 GBP at an auction in England. The canine came with papers tracing it back to Dr. Barry O’Meara, a physician reported to have extracted it in 1817. 35 Issue 6 | 2024 |
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