Teeth – Washington, Hippopotamus, Vered, Eastern Europe, Jannie

We forget at this time of feasting that we are so lucky to be living, in the Western world, ... we have teeth, they are looked after, we tend not to suffer with them, and if we need some falsies - that can be sorted too. Teeth – who would have thought that that one word would produce a connective thought process?

I had happened to hear a BBC World snippet about George Washington (1732 – 1799) – of well known fame, as much today as when he lived 250 years ago ... he had one tooth at the time he became President in1789, but for the sake of vanity endured a full set of “falsies” .. did you know that?

Farmer at the dentist, Johann Liss, c. 1616-17.

The portrait by Gilbert Stuart, used on the One Dollar Bill - I mentioned in a previous post about snuff– has Washington looking one way, while on the Bill he looks the other! But in that picture, I thought Washington’s mouth looked ‘a little strained’ ... which now I know was obviously correct: his sets of teeth causing great pain, for which he took laudanum.

Can you imagine having plates carved from hippopotamus and elephant ivory, into which real human teeth and bits of horses’ and donkeys’ teeth were inserted, then held together with gold springs? (None of them being made from wood as the lore seems to suggest).

George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1797

The French man Pierre Fauchard (1678 – 1761) has been recognised as the “father of modern dentistry”, so his early connections with the Navy and the rapid spread of knowledge through Europe and across into the American Colonies, may well have been instrumental in Washington being able to have a plate made with false teeth.

Dental needle-nose pliersdesigned by Fauchard in the late 17th century to use inprosthodontics.

Thinking about sets of false teeth, years ago when I worked for an organisation in London exporting capital plant and machinery to Eastern Europe – we had sold a few teeth lines into Russia! We just don’t think about these sorts of aspects of life – do we?

Then I was reading ‘The Week’ in the part titled .. “It Must Be True .. I read it in the tabloids” .. about a zoo in Shanghai investing in a four foot long toothbrush – guess what for? To clean its hippos’ teeth ... up to this major investment, they had been cleaned with a broom.

A keeper brushes a hippo's teeth at the Shanghai Zoo Photo: REUTERS
(The Telegraph Newspaper .. it is not a tabloid!)

In the wild the hippos live mostly off grass and do not worry about oral hygiene, while at the zoo they are fed on fruit and vegetables, which can get clogged in their teeth. Seems strange thinking about oral hygiene in animals ... but of course that’s exactly what the animals do in their natural habitat.

Just slightly off the subject ... stalactites and stalacmites ... also need to be cleaned off .. as the mud from cavers, if left there, will corrode the growths – so to keep them in pristine condition .. they are brushed off, this time with dish brushes .. then they shine like underground stars!

Vered (to the right), who has a very appropriate web non-de-plume of “MomGrind” ,wrote this wonderful article about her daughter’s visit to the dentist – which had got her musing .. “How Lucky We Are” about our teeth and the facilities we have today.

To top it off another blogger, Jannie of Funsterland, showed us a fun video of her daughter wearing her father’s suspenders?! Well to me – they’re braces ... do we suspender or do we brace? Do we teeth or do we hold up trousers ....?

So these amazing sets of co-incidences led me to post about teeth .. and as it’s that time of year ... when we use our gnashers for many delicious goodies ... spare a thought for others in less priveleged places and days gone by ... of ... I let your imagination take you along your chosen path ...

Dear Mr Postman .. I’m sure my mother will love this post – these are the sorts of things that would have amused her .. and I’d have been sent home to find out more about George Washington, his portrait and his teeth .. and she’d definitely have laughed at the hippo having its teeth cleaned! Today it is a mild day here .. further north Britain is still in the grips of winter, as are many in the Northern Hemisphere – the other London in Ontario has had a major dump or two .. we are due to another Arctic blast next week – ugh!

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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