What’s the history behind false teeth?

Thanks to modern technology, today’s false teeth are largely indistinguishable from real teeth. This wasn’t always the case. Perhaps the most famous false-toothed American was the first president, George Washington. Popular history gave Mr. Washington wooden teeth, though this was not the case. In fact, wooden teeth are impossible; the corrosive effects of saliva would have turned them into mushy pulp before long. As a matter of fact, the first president’s false teeth came from a variety of sources, including teeth extracted from human and animal corpses.

Despite this seemingly gruesome practice, dental practitioners preceding President Washington’s time attempted aesthetic restorations. Ancient civilizations used ivory and bone to create new teeth. Unfortunately, this craft was lost until the mid-1800s. Rotten or damaged dentin was simply extracted, and gaps became a way of life. When false teeth were warranted, threads of silk or tightly coiled springs were used to hold the new teeth in place; it wasn’t much of an anchor and teeth had to be removed before eating lest they literally spring from the wearer’s mouth. Additionally, genuine teeth extracted from the living and the dead and set in another’s mouth soon rotted. Those who could afford it, opted to have new teeth fashioned from ivory, gold or silver.

It wasn’t until 1774 that two Frenchmen, a pharmacist and a dentist, designed a set of porcelain teeth. Steady improvements were made on the teeth, most notably in 1808 when an Italian dentist invented a single porcelain tooth imbedded with a platinum pin. These teeth came to America in 1822, and for the rest of the century dentists and technicians tinkered with the design, fit and feel of the teeth. A breakthrough occurred in 1839 with the discovery of vulcanized rubber, which was used to hold false teeth. Today’s dentures are made of either plastic or ceramic.