President George Washington wore false teeth. What were they made of?
They were made of hippopotamus ivory by a dentist whose name was Greenwood. The ivory became stained brown, probably from red wine; this color and the dentist's name could have led to the rumors they were made from wood. They were Greenwood teeth. Other specimens were tried, including bone and teeth purchased from a Black slave, but they didn't work out and wood was never used.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
35 Comments
Michael R. Jones
"Throughout his life Washington employed numerous full and partial dentures that were constructed of materials including human, and probably cow and horse teeth, ivory(possibly elephant),lead-tin alloy, copper alloy (possibly brass), and silver alloy"
Naked Kitty Slave
History Channel › news › did-g...
Did George Washington Have Wooden Teeth?
He began losing teeth as early as his twenties, and was eventually forced to wear several sets of unsightly and painful dentures. Rather than wood, Washington's many false choppers were made out of varying combinations of rare hippopotamus ivory, human teeth and metal fasteners..Apr 30, 2014
Grace Bowman-Tuttle
Actually, his teeth were made from all of the above.
William Laughlin
Grace Bowman-Tuttle,
That is untrue. Wood is the worst material, being porous and surrounded by saliva, they would get soft and fall apart or rot in one's mouth.
budderdudder
Learned something new today....I thought they were wood for most of my 58 years.
Deborah Gabriel
Interesting fact! I had always heard wood.
Corey Taylor
Maybe the fact that they were made by a Dr. Greenwood gave rise to the myth that Washington had wooden teeth.
Helga U. Williams
Well, I certainly learned something new today. I did not know his teeth were ivory, and also did not know that a hippo had ivory at all!
👍
cgrhm
Bone and teeth "purchased" from a black slave? Seriously? Our slave owning first prez. more than likely just had them ripped out of the slaves mouth.
Wanda Leverette
Take a moment and think about the slave whose teeth were pulled out for Washington to use,
Mary Caypless Tardif
budderdudder, my school taught us wood. How sad all these years we were taught wrong :(
Clm
Not enough information to make the claim ivory was used. There is information on cow and horse teeth being used. Need better research for this question 🤔
Gloria Jolivette
toughlady, and they are still lying today!
Char
Jo Karen Williams, or slimy or fall apart
Char
Cindy Sherwood, poor slaves
Char
William Laughlin, exactly and be so slimy not counting trying to eat with being near impossible
Char
I always heard wood so that is what I chose however having dentures that didn't seem to logical..
✨KRISTA✨
He needed Crest whitestrips!😀
dmarkc
He often wore a wooden expression.
paolabelle
Technically ivory is a bone.
Merri Sillery
Corey Taylor, gee I think I read that somewhere, like in the explanation. Smh
Corey Taylor
I've read that there are no portraits of Washington smiling because dentures were so poorly made in his century that the simple act of smiling with an open mouth was an invitation to them falling out!
Corey Taylor
And who wrote that piece of nonsense, Jesse Jackson?