Dentistry ?

Civil_War_Dentist-300x287.jpg

Civil War Dentist examines a soldier’s teeth. Courtesy Association of Army Dentistry, San Antonio, TX.

Back then, routine dental care did not exist, and many people in their late teens and 20s were missing several teeth. If a recruit could not open the gun powder cartridge with his teeth, he would not be able to reload quickly, placing himself and his fellow soldiers at greater risk.

So, while evaluating new registrants, a dental exam was performed to see if each young man had at least four front teeth. The dentist would examine the young man and evaluate the front teeth (or lack thereof). Those young men without four front teeth were disqualified and not permitted to enlist.

Naturally, a “code” was needed to designate why the registrant was unfit for service. So someone (presumably a Union Officer) came up with:

4-F (lacks 4 Front Teeth)
And from that point forward, the term 4-F was used in this manner. http://directionsindentistry.net
 
Okay, I understand now. So a molar couldn't tear open the cartrige. I thought they tore it with those
far back teeth. It must've been hard to tear it like that. Thank the lord it was then not now. :dance:
 
The dental profession had gained some standing during the two decades that preceded the Civil War. In the Confederate states, there were about 500 dentists. Jefferson Davis, while serving as Secretary of War under Pierce, was an advocate for a dentistry corps. Perhaps this is why the Confederate Army had a dental program, while a similar idea in the Union Army was rejected by the War department. Confederate Surgeon General Moore was also quite supportive of the idea of Army dentists, leading to the comment that the dentists owed more to Moore "than to any man of modern times". http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw
 
Almost didn't read this thread as I have terrible dental phobias.

I can't remember where I read it now but I distinctly remember hearing of a congressman (pretty sure) who's 'friends' put a draft notice on his desk as a joke and was so afraid of going into the service that he busted out his front teeth for just the reasons noted.

And why can't you get chloroform now ? We've gone backward on that one.
 
Almost didn't read this thread as I have terrible dental phobias.

I can't remember where I read it now but I distinctly remember hearing of a congressman (pretty sure) who's 'friends' put a draft notice on his desk as a joke and was so afraid of going into the service that he busted out his front teeth for just the reasons noted.

And why can't you get chloroform now ? We've gone backward on that one.
From what I have found, apparently the use of chloroform in dentistry fell out of practice due to a Food and Drug Administration ban on drugs and cosmetics containing chloroform even though the agency has no jurisdiction over a dentist's use of chloroform in clinical practice and it has not proven that chloroform is a human carcinogen.
 
My story ain't ACW dentistry, but it may interest you.
My grand paw said that when he was about 17, which would have been about 1952 or so, he developed a terrible toothache on Friday night. He live in a tiny village called Farmerville, LA. The dentist was nowhere to be found over the weekend. The only option he had turned out to be a farrier (a man who shoes horses and sometimes works on their teeth.) The farrier reluctantly agreed to do the job. Grandpaw got good and drunk, and the farrier started working on pulling that tooth. It took him several hours, as the tooth broke into 4 or 5 pieces. It eventually all came out. The end.
 
My story ain't ACW dentistry, but it may interest you.
My grand paw said that when he was about 17, which would have been about 1952 or so, he developed a terrible toothache on Friday night. He live in a tiny village called Farmerville, LA. The dentist was nowhere to be found over the weekend. The only option he had turned out to be a farrier (a man who shoes horses and sometimes works on their teeth.) The farrier reluctantly agreed to do the job. Grandpaw got good and drunk, and the farrier started working on pulling that tooth. It took him several hours, as the tooth broke into 4 or 5 pieces. It eventually all came out. The end.
OUCH! He must have been "good and drunk" all right! :bounce:
 
umm since I have to go Monday to the dentist, I guess I feel better looking at all these photos, I can not imagine going back them,do you think they knocked people out to work on there teeth back then???
 
Civil_War_Dentist-300x287.jpg

Civil War Dentist examines a soldier’s teeth. Courtesy Association of Army Dentistry, San Antonio, TX.

Back then, routine dental care did not exist, and many people in their late teens and 20s were missing several teeth. If a recruit could not open the gun powder cartridge with his teeth, he would not be able to reload quickly, placing himself and his fellow soldiers at greater risk.



So, while evaluating new registrants, a dental exam was performed to see if each young man had at least four front teeth. The dentist would examine the young man and evaluate the front teeth (or lack thereof). Those young men without four front teeth were disqualified and not permitted to enlist.

Naturally, a “code” was needed to designate why the registrant was unfit for service. So someone (presumably a Union Officer) came up with:

4-F (lacks 4 Front Teeth)
And from that point forward, the term 4-F was used in this manner. http://directionsindentistry.net
I read a well researched paper recently (which of course I cannot find now) which claimed that this is apocryphal. It seems to make perfect sense and makes such a great Civil War anecdote but there is no historical documentation or support for the story. Nothing in the regulations or surgeons notes about such an exam or refusing recruits for this reason. If you think about it, incisors would work just as well to tear open a cartridge.
The 4-F classification originated in the Selective Service system of 1917 and was unknown during the Civil War.
I'm afraid it's another "re-enactorism" that has been repeated so often that it has gained credibility, but has no basis in history.
 
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