Did George Washington have wooden teeth?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth & the funky history of George Washington’s ‘wooden’ teeth.
Washington having wooden teeth is nothing but a myth — but this myth is easier to accept because the teeth speak for themselves.
While still young, Washington started losing his teeth owing to the poor diet, but mainly genetics. According to founding father John Adams, several stories stand behind Washington’s poor oral health, like, cracking walnuts in his youth and being treated from mercury when he suffered from smallpox.
It is recorded at the age of 24, and he paid five shillings for getting a tooth removed. The issues about his worsening oral health are documented in letters and communique reflecting misery Washington had to go through — sometimes in the shape of tooth scrapers, denture files and medications. Interestingly, when he became president in 1789, he only had a tooth left.
Fashioning of Horrific Dentures
Dr. John Greenwood handled Washington’s dental case. He made a hole in the denture, taking into account one remaining tooth over which he carefully snuggled the frame. But, eventually, the last tooth, the lower-left premolar, had to get extracted. Wondering about the new home of remaining…
