"for healthy teeth, first take a pair of pliers..."
 

Wednesday November 19,2008
By Martin Stote (UK News)

Anyone fearing a trip to the dentist should get their teeth into a book coming up for auction – and realise things could be worse.

Written in 1770 and bound in its original calfskin, A Treatise on the Disorders and Deformities of the Teeth and Gums and the Most Rational Methods of Treating Them is a collector’s delight.

Less delightful are the insights by author Thomas Berdmore, dentist to King George III, into tortures endured by our forbears.

He writes of a 23-year-old woman left in a “terrible state” by a “barber dentist”.

“She went to a barber dentist to have the "left molaris" tooth of the upper jaw on the right side taken out,” he says.

“On the second attempt he brought away the affected tooth together with a piece of jawbone and two neighbouring molars.”

He says the “barber dentist” embarked on the ill-fated extraction because he was “uneasy at disappointment”.

Although Berdmore was ahead of his time, his reliance on pliers rooted him in his age.

Charles Hanson, who will auction the book in Derby next Wednesday, said: “People moan about how hard it is to see a dentist today but in Berdmore’s day it might have been better to stay away. Some of the practices are almost grotesque – and this was the man who treated King George III.”

Our ancestors also wanted white, straight teeth and Berdmore advises on “how to bring teeth which are ill into beautiful order”.

He writes: “Pass gold wire from the neighbouring teeth on either side in such a manner as to press upon what stands out of the line.”

The alternative is to “break the teeth into order by means of a strong pair of crooked pliers”.

For toothache he recommended “astringent liquors rendered slightly acid by orange, lemon juice or vinegar”.

He also identifies sugar and smoking as harmful to teeth. “Peasants suffer less in this way, unlike those of rank and opulence,” he writes.

The book, found at a valuation in Kings Bromley, Staffordshire, is thought to be the first English tome on dentistry and is expected to fetch at least £300.

Another method of tooth extraction in those days was the use of what was called a "goat's foot elevator". A strange looking tool that was made of thin curved steel with a wood handle. It was pushed between the tooth and gum, all the way down to the root, turned under the root and "elevated" out. It was considered more efficient than using pliers since you didn't have to squeeze two handles together and it worked on one tooth at a time. If the barber-dentist or surgeon was having a tough time with say a molar, he could use a small chisel, breaking up the tooth and taking it out piece-meal. All this was done while you were wide awake and alert. Your job would be to hold a barber's bowl or some sort of basin under your chin to catch the blood; and it gave you something to think about besides the fact that a tooth was being torn from your jaw.

You can find a photo of the elevator at this site: http://www.gggodwin.com/CartGenie/prod-42.htm

One of the major causes of tooth decay in the 18th century was diet, especially here in America where we used great quantities of sugar in our food and drink. Toothbrushes were available but expensive because they were handmade of bone or ivory with boar hair bristles; so when you bought one for the family that's what you got; one! The family that brushes together gets periodontal disease together, not to mention other ailments such as the common cold and influenza. While baking soda was the more commonly used toothpaste, many people, in an effort to get their teeth very white, used pumice; a volcanic ash that men used to clean the rust off their tools and weapons. It if can take the rust of metal, imagine what it did to tooth enamel. If they couldn't afford a toothbrush they'd use something like licorice root. They'd chew the end til it was flat then scape their teeth, or something as simple as dipping a piece of rag in water, then in baking soda, and rubbing in on their teeth. Women tended to loose their teeth relatively early due to multiple childbirths (takes the calcium out of their bodies).

A good example of battlefield forensics occured after the British were driven out of Boston in March of 1776. The men buried on Breed's Hill were dug up for reburial in their family plots and the body of Dr. Joseph Warren was identified by the dentures made for him by Paul Revere.