Roots and All: A Brief History of 18th & 19th Dentistry
Cheryl Tolley
During the 18th & 19th century both the upper and lower classes suffered the same dental woes when it came to decaying teeth and poor oral hygiene. This was exacerbated by the importation of sugar from the West Indies, the popularity of sweet treats, fortified wines and sweetened teas. The abundance of sugar in the diet led to a rapid increase in decay and gum disease eventually leading to loss of teeth. Unsurprisingly, dental sepsis was recorded as being responsible for up to 15% of all deaths in Britain!
Dentistry was rudimentary and access to a dentist was dependent on social and financial status. Blacksmiths were the only option for the lower classes or the “tooth drawer” who would be considered as a last resort. Tooth Drawers travelled from village to village and would set up a stage or shop decorated with extracted teeth, they also dressed as a Jester wearing a string of teeth around their neck. Interestingly, the tooth drawer would promote his business by planting an actor (claiming to suffer from toothache) in the audience and perform a fake tooth extraction as a painless experience. Unfortunately, this was quite the opposite for the next unsuspecting customer.
The gentry and upper classes had access to a Barber surgeon or a Dentist. A Barber surgeon could perform surgical procedures such as bloodletting, amputation, tooth pulling as well as hair cutting to compliment your new look! Undeniably, the best option would be a Dentist if finances permitted. During the 1750’s Dentistry came into its own and the definition of a Dentist was used to describe a tooth operator. Treatises were published and Dental apprentices would receive a scientific training. Most practitioners learnt their trade through an apprenticeship and lectures would occasionally take place at Guy’s Hospital. Interestingly, it was not until 1858 that the first Dental school in London was founded, it took another twenty years until women were accepted.
Dentists would provide treatments ranging from scaling, basic fillings, dentures and tooth whitening. Destruction of enamel was not only due to sugar intake but also abrasive toothbrushes and tooth powders. A typical tooth powder would include brick dust, crushed oyster shells, cuttle-fish, charcoal, beetle nut, which were flavoured with oil of lemon, cloves or cinnamon. In 1780, William Addis invented the toothbrush while he was in prison for causing a riot and he considered cleaning teeth with a rag and soot was ineffective.
Addis drilled holes into a bone that he saved from a prison meal and attached tufts of bristle that he acquired from the prison guard sealing the holes with glue. After his release he started manufacturing toothbrushes and became very wealthy. Addis’s company still exists and is now known as Wisdom. A toothbrush was made of bone or silver handle with pig bristle, horsehair or badger hair and the average toothbrush cost six pence, which was not affordable for the lower classes. The only alternative for the lower classes was a rag with soot or salt.
Dentures
Dentures and false teeth were engineered from hippopotamus, walrus or elephant ivory. They had the disadvantage of appearing less realistic, were difficult to eat with and decayed quicker than natural teeth. This would inevitably lead to a foul odour due to bacterial colonisation. Dentures made from human teeth were an expensive but better option, they resisted wear and kept their colour longer and looked more realistic. Unfortunately, the poor were persuaded to part with their teeth in exchange for money, the scene of Fantine in Les Misérables springs to mind.
A complete set of human teeth were a valuable commodity and the tooth robbing business became very lucrative despite the limited supply. Human corpses were the best source of human teeth, however sourcing these relied on the illegal trade of grave robbers or “resurrectionists”. In the aftermath of Waterloo, 50,000 lay dead or wounded which served as ripe pickings for tooth hunters, who armed with pliers would remove the front eight teeth of the dead and where possible those alive too! Back teeth (molars) were left as they were difficult to remove and time consuming to shape into dentures.
Young and healthy dead soldiers made this a profitable endeavour for the opportunist entrepreneur. The plethora of teeth procured, flooded the market so significantly that second-hand teeth acquired a new name, “Waterloo Teeth”. It was more desirable to wear a set of dentures from a young and healthy soldier than the teeth of a rotting corpse. British soldiers were also encouraged to take great care of their teeth because the front teeth were important for biting open the ammunition cartridges. Every second soldier was issued with a toothbrush to share with his bunk mate.
The teeth were sorted into sets ready to be sold to Dentists who would then boil the teeth, cut off the roots ready for shaping for the manufacture of a denture. The front teeth were riveted into a hippo or walrus ivory base. This method involved multiple processes and would take the Dentist a minimum of six weeks hence making it more expensive.
Duke of Wellington’s Teeth
Finally, I thought it would be worth mentioning the Duke of Wellington’s dentures found in the Portico room at Apsley House. Although the Duke was fastidious about his personal hygiene and health, a non-smoker, moderate alcohol drinker, he nonetheless lost his teeth. It is unknown precisely when he lost his teeth, but records show that two existing sets of dentures were manufactured for him on the 17th of November possibly by Samuel Cartwright in 1845 Senior FRS (1789–1894) (C Bowdler Henry, BDJ Vol 125:354–256. The Duke Would have been 76 years of age at that time.
My own research, however, shows that the Duke of Wellington’s Dentist was Mr Clarke who resided at 53 Harley Street London, from an advert that I found in the Pictorial Times in June 1845. The extant two sets of dentures were constructed of gold on the upper denture and ivory on the lower joined together with conventional springs of the period. The front and upper lower dentures are human teeth mounted on vertical gold posts; the molars are ivory blocks with a criss-cross grooving on the occlusal surface to aid mastication. Both sets were edge to edge with no overjet (this is unnatural) because it would move the lower jaw forward to maintain a satisfactory bite.
