The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-11-21
A TALK ABOUT THE TEETH.
HUMAN MoLARs DIS GUESSED FROM
VARIOUS Joints OF VIEW.
Omens and signs Relating TO the
Teeth-Why Peoples Teeth Como
Out-Making Artificial Teeth,

Inc charms, omens, signs and panaceas
relating to the teeth constitute quite
formidable item in folk lore In some
parts of the country there is super
stitiion that if you put on your right
stocking, right shoe and right trouser
leg before the left, you will never have
toothache. To drink out of a skull taken
from graveyard; to take tooth from
such a skull and wear it around the
neck; TO apply the tooth to your own
living but aching tooth; to put a double
nut into your pocket; to pare your nails
and wrap up the pairings in paper-all
are charms against the toothache. If you
catch mole in trap, cut off one of his
paws and wear 1t as charm, you will
soon see the effect, provided right paw
be used for left tooth, and vice versa.
When an aching tooth is extracted, mix
it with salt and burn it. There is a GER
tain custom of calling the toothache the
" love pain" for which the sufferers not
entitled to any commiseraton whether
he Tor she) fully assents to this, NAV
perhaps be doubted. Many other items
of tooth lore have no connection with
toothache. For instance, if the teeth
are set wide apart. there will be good
luck and plenty OF travelling for the for
tunate possessor. When tooth is drawn,
if you refrain from thrusting your tongue
into the cavity, the new tooth to grow
an its place will be a lucky one. A letter
written in 1913, bv lady to her son,
spoke of the efficacy of wolves teeth set
in gold to assist children in cutting
teeth.
Why do some peoples teeth come out
more readily than others9 The reasons
for this are probably many. About the
middle OF the last century Peter Kahn, a
Swede, visited the Cnite1 States and
wrote sensibly about what he saw. He
observed frequent loss of teeth among
settlers from Europe, especially women.
After discussing and rejecting many
modes of explanation, he attributed it to
hot tea and other beverages, and came to
a general conclusion that ''hot feeders
lose their teeth more readily than cold
feeders" He also noticed that "the
American Indians have better teeth than
the whites" He accounts for the differ
ence in this strange way, that the reds
keep the month shut, whereas the whites
keep it open. The teeth, ne says, require
moisture to keep their surfaces in good
working order; when the mouth is open
the mucous membrane has tendency to
dry up the teeth lose their needed supply
of moisture and thence come discolora-
ton, toothache, decay looseness and
eventual loss of teeth lie scolds the
human race generally for being less SEN
sible than the brutes in this respect, and
the white race specially in comparison
with the red. We keep our mouths open
far too much the Indian warrior sleeps,
hunts and smiles with his mouth shut,
and rcspires through the nostrils. Among
the virtues attributed by him to closed
lips one is excellent-when you are angry
keep your mouth shut.
During the days of body snatchers
when graveyards were subjected to pill
lage for supplying anatomists with sub
jects for dissection, the teeth from the
dead bodies formed a frequent article of
sale to dentists. Sometimes graves are
opened for the teeth alone, as being
small and easily concealed articles.
The making of artificial teeth is trade
in which large amount of ingenuity is
displayed, both in the adoption of new
substance and in the mode of shaping
and finishing. When artificial teeth
began to be made, instead of using the
natural teeth of dead persons, they were
made of bone or, the more costly kind,
of ivory from the tusks of the elephant.
rhinoceros, hippopatamus, walrus or
narwhal. If only single tooth was
wanted it was customary TO cut Il bit of
bone TO the proper shape, and tie it to
the next tooth by ligaturc of wire. 1t
is still found that tusk bone possesses
the best combination of properties. 1t
combines, as a learned authority in the
dental world tells us, "lghtness,
strength and solidity with natural ap-
pearance and certain congeniality to
the mouth possessed by no other mate
rial, which render both partial pieces and
entire sets at once the most useful sub
stitutes for the lost natural teeth.
The mechanical dentist must be gen
uine workman. When he is about to
make bone or ivory teeth he cuts a tusk
into pieces and shapes each piece by an
elaborate series of mechanical processes.
Sometimes for customer who has
plenty of dollars to spare he will make a
set, upper or lower, as the case may be-
out of one piece. He saws his block Of
ivory roughly to the size, and then with
lillllltC ldtlthSG MIS- anu SldNtS IL IulO
shape. He has at hand model of the
patients gum and works to that model
with eXactncss. The teeth are not sep
arate pieces; they are cut into apparent
rather than real separation, like the teeth
of comb. An artistic workman will
take care that the teeth shall present
some Of that irregularity which our nat
ural grinders always exhibits; learner
falls into the mistake of making them
too good. Many persons do not like to
wear dead peoples teeth-there is some
thing uncomfortable in the idea; there
is also frequently germ of decay in such
teeth, and these two reasons led to the
custom of making artificial ivory teeth.
Ivory however, with all its eXcellencies,
becomes discolored, and hence the chief
motive for making teeth of certain min
cral or vos table compositions. There
is, in fact, a sort of triangular duel al
ways going on among the ivory dentists,
mineral dentists, and vegetable dentists,
each class fUhtinp stOutly AGAINST both