These dentures were carved in primitive fashion out of the femur of an ox. The upper and lower dentures were bound together with wires. Two thin little metal springs on the occlusial surface are designed to enable the wearer to open his mouth. The dentures did not rest on the alveolar arch but were inserted between jaw and cheek, so that they were useless for chewing and their value was solely cosmetic.
Since they were only made for cosmetic purposes to cover the toothless gingivae of the wearer- this signify more than words the mental anguish and embarrassment suffered by the multitude of edentulous persons of that era. There were no prostheses and no scientific knowledge of the treatment of gingival disease that robbed great masses of the population of their natural dentition.
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