Civil War era dentures.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Most of us know that George Washington only had one tooth when he became president and the rest of his teeth were false teeth or dentures. Many/most of us know that Washington did not use wooden teeth. He had the money for much better dentures. Earlier in his life, Washington had dentures made from hippopotamus ivory and human teeth. Later his dentures were made from a combination of horse, donkey, cow, and human teeth. I have read that the human teeth were taken from slaves. Not sure the slaves willingly donated their teeth to make dentures for wealthy people.

I assuming that George Washington was not the only person who needed dentures and dentures must have been worn during the Civil War era. Does anyone know what Civil War era were made of? Were the teeth of unwilling slaves used?
 
Lt. Lemeul A. Abbott of Company E, 10th Vermont was wounded in the mouth during the Third Battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, losing eleven teeth. Sent home to recover, he mentions in his diary a visit he made to a dentist on November 17, 1864 for what sounds like dentures.
"...have been to the dentist's to have an impression taken for my new teeth; am to have them in the morning." The next day his entry into his diary ends with "didn't get my teeth."

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wU82peBOvUvahqP9s2MWklErleIn91WV/view


To appreciate what Lt. Abbott went through, here are some more details from his diary:

"My first wound was from the butt end of an exploding shell in the breast which maimed and knocked me down and simultaneously as I fell a minie ball fired but a rod away in my front just grazed my forehead, torn (sic) through my upper lip crushing both jaws and carrying away eleven teeth, the most painless dentistry I ever had done;...."

Corporal Joel Walker, who is fighting nearby, advises him, "Don't get up Lieutenant, they'll riddle you if you do!" Abbott writes, "I thought they already had."

Walker and another soldier escort the lieutenant to the field hospital where "Dr. J. C. Rutherford, one of my regimental surgeons, seeing me with a man on either side - for here in sight of others I wouldn't let them support me- close to and keenly watching my unsteady carriage, came running, hastily examined my wounds, bade me sit on the ground, ran for his instrument case, placed my head upturned between his knees, sewed in place a triangular piece of flesh extending from the right corner of my nose down hanging at the lower right corner by a slight shred of flesh, which I had held in place from the battlefield with my fingers...."

This appears to be the only true medical assistance he receives. Subsequent diary entries mention his fishing out broken teeth and bone slivers from his mouth with his finger. After his arrival home he visits a dentist who tells him his upper jaw is severely damaged. Despite this he is ordered to report for duty. At Annapolis he is brought before a Board of Examiners who express disbelief that Vermont doctors had sent him back to the front when he is unable to chew solid food. However, Abbott turns down their offer of a discharge and returns to his regiment. It is not clear from his diary if he ever got his teeth, but the doctors are much impressed with the surgical work of Dr. Rutherford and "that it should have healed as much as it had so soon and would leave so little trace or scar externally...." Indeed, I could not find a picture of Abbott that indicated any wound or disfigurement at all.
 
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[1864]

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Dentists are great liars!
 
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