teeth |
By middle age Washington had no teeth left. But he did have several sets of dentures, made from such materials as hippopotamus ivory, seahorse ivory, and lead. Other sets used the teeth of pigs, cows, elks, and humans [3j] Paul Revere made him a set of false teeth [4a]. There is a set of Washington dentures in the University of Maryland Dental Museum in Baltimore [19]. Washington's clumsy, ill-fitting dentures distorted his lips. This contributed to the dour expression Washington has in various portraits [3k]. Also, painter Gilbert Stuart disliked Washington and accentuated the distortion in what became the most famous of all Washington portraits [2d]. The Peale portrait of 1776 shows a long scar along Washington's left cheek. This resulted from an incision to treat an abscessed tooth [3k]. |
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Historian Richard Norton Smith has written [17]:
According to John Adams, Washington lost his teeth as the result of cracking
Brazil nuts between his jaws. By the time he became President, he had but a
single tooth left and a set of dentures fashioned from cow's teeth.
In hopes of finding something better, Washington contacted a leading dentist
in Philadelphia, who produced a state-of-the-art set carved, not from wood,
but from hippopotamus tusk. The new dentures were thoughtfully drilled with
a hole to fit over his one remaining tooth. Unfortunately, they also rubbed
against this natural tooth, causing more or less constant pain for which the
President took laudanum.
Laudanum is a pain-killer in the same family as opium. Imagine if, today, the
President were a frequent user of opiate medications! |
