Washington's Teeth

By Crusader1307

George Washington is an integral part of American History, to be sure. It's first ''General of The Army'' during The Revolutionary War and later - it's first President. So ''lionized'' by History in fact, that His life is as much legend and mythos than anything else. But one legend about the former President is quite correct. Washington had VERY bad dental hygiene. So much so, that by His late 20s =- He had lost all but one of them. This lead His confidence to suffer much (as well as His general appearance). This led Him to wear dentures, or ''false teeth''. But the state of dentistry in the 18th Century was primitive at best. Washington was known to have had (4) sets of dentures in His life. But it was ''how'' they were constructed that shows that even with them, He rarely if ever smiled ''officially''. Thios is born out of His images for official portraits and even still evident on the various US Currency which still ears His likeness. Washington's dentist fashioned His false teeth from Horse and Hippo teeth (ivory), set in a lead ''gum foundation''. The who affair was connected with wire springs and screws. All in all not a ''lifelike'' look at all! It was even said that one of His sets were made from ''teeth of Slaves'' Washington owned when He was a Colonial Militia Officer.  As grisly as this may sound, Washington reputedly paid The Slaves (said to be 9 of them), for Their ''teeth''. It was a very common method for The Poor to pull Their own teeth and sell them to dentists (who would in turn set them into dentures and sell them to their wealthy Patients). The historical fable of Washington owning ''Wooden Teeth'' was more probably a later set of Hippo teeth. Stained (easily) from drinking Port Wine ad Tea, they would have taken on a ''dark brown'' tinge and resemble ''wood''. Owning to the painful looking contraption by today's standards, it is no wonder Washington never ''smiled''. Today, only (1) complete set of Washington's dentures have survived. They ae displayed in a Virginia (US) Museum.