[revwardoc]

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.