"BITING EVIDENCE" OR "PUTTING TEETH INTO LAW"

Accusing him of fitting people with useless artificial teeth, his enemies bring a lawsuit against him. One of his numerous clients reshapes a horseshoe before his judges to prove the merit of the dentures he made. (Edouard Pingret- circa 1850- Meibauer Collection, New York.)


The witness in this lawsuit could possibly have had his prosthesis well wired to the mandible, enabling him to change the form of a horseshoe by using his artificial dentures as a vice. That his prosthesis must be of a better quality than the usual product dispensed by this dentist is evident by the angry protests of his former patients.

Prosthetic Dentistry has become a fine art today. Dentures are beautifully constructed and fitted so well that the substitution of false for real is difficult to detect. However, the patient knows they are there-- he feels their presence. He will be conscious of them as a part of his life.

DENTAL PROBLEMS OF FAMOUS HISTORICAL PERSONALITIES: "Queen Elizabeth's Painful Oral Disease"

Queen Elizabeth dreaded the idea of Dental Surgery. She was aware of the lack of dental knowledge and skill that existed in her day. Many Dentists were akin to Barber Surgeons. Some of the were Charlatans who performed an operation on a sideshow in the marketplace. The mass of the population were either edentulous or suffering with decayed teeth, receding gums and a malodorous breath. The Queen's painful oral disease continued to torment her until she died in 1603.

Today modern dentistry enhances the happiness of all people by stressing the importance of overcoming dental caries and periodontal disease to save the natural teeth and rescue them from the threat of an edentulous life.