, 1888-02-11
FASHIONS IN TEETH.
THE LATEST INNOVATION IN PRO-
GRESSlVE DENTISTRY.

Making tho Tint Suit the CompIoxion-A
Dentist Talks to a Man with an
Aching BT-cuspid-Teoth for Elderly
People
On q steel ring about twice as big as a
key ring, which hangs ON the wall in n
Twenty-third street dentists office, are
about $50 human teeth mounted on thin
steel swivels about two inches long. a
man who sat in the dentists office the
other day, holding with both hands n
tooth that he thought wa likely to jump
out of his head, it ached SO bad, stared at
the ring and wondered II it held trophies
of the Doctors art, and II the jumping
tooth would soon be added to the collec-
ton. The dentist in the meantime vas
holding an animated discussion with n
fair woman patient who sat in the big
chair of torture. Pretty soon he tool the
ring of teeth from the wall, and the man
with the jumping bi-cuspid saw him go
through a maneuver that he thought eX-
ceedingly strange. He stood in front of
his patient and, selecting n tooth FROM the
ring, he would hold it by the side OF her
face, and then look at her ms though he
were In some impossible way contemplat-
ing the effect. Then he would take IN
other and go through the same operation.
Finally he made an entry of some kline in
n little book, told his patient to come
Tuesday, and hung the ring up IN the
wall ngain.
When the man with the bi-cuspid n
climbed out of the chair with the fierce
edge of his toothache dulled n little by a
big wad of savory creosote, he asked the
dentist what his curious operation with
the ~castanet of teeth might mean.
at was n very simple matter" said the
artist of the forceps and the nerve ex-
tractor. 81 was trying to find q tooth
that would suit her complexion. No, you
needn't laugh. 1t isn't u joke. It's the
latest fad in dentistry, and when you
come to understand 1t, you will wonder
somebody hasn't thought of it before.
Haven't you occasionally noticed hat
somebody whom you have met has n set
of false teeth, and you know It perfectly
well, though you amt tell whyi There
is something about the appearance of the
teeth, you don't know what it is, that
tells you, md in a vaguely unpleasant
sort Of way, that they are false. You sec
some otherwise good looking woman
laugh, for instance, and the first glimpse
you get OF her teeth strikes you as disa-
greeable, although they may be white,
pearly and even. Did you ever guess
what was the matteri
The trouble was that the woman's
false teeth, though excellent in every
OlnGT WHY no uOuNl, ulu CUSHING u sum
that probably made her husband Vince,
were not of a tint to suit her complexion.
know OF scores OF women, and no doubt
there are thousands and thousands of
them in New York, who nave uncon-
sciously made perfect spectacles of them
selves that way. Gov just think how n
woman with black hair and an olive com
plexion would look with perfectly white
teeth. The effect Is the ghnstliest thing
,-r, ..-.r ua,w xrl.a, 30 DRrnn 80 +hfpls ~
it Yet III bet there are 10000 black
haired women in New York who are
wearing false teeth rs white ms n sepul-
cire. Then what would you think of n
blonde with blue eyes and light hair and
yellow teeth like these That would look
nice, wouldn't it, Well, just notice how
many blonde women you see disflgured in
just that way. Think of the spectacle n
red headed woman make Syhen she opens
her mouth to laugh and shows the teeth
some blacksmith Of n dentist made rs yell
low rs a South Brooklyn aguc Victiml II
is dreadful to all persons of cultivated
Sensibilities. Dark complexioned persons
should have teeth Of about this shade"
showing n yellowish tinted tooth on the
ring Light complexioned persons should
have lighter tinted teeth. Red headed
persons look best with a sort Of cleaning
white that is not just a dead white, but
Is not 1t al yellow,
Its the same way about the ages of
people. An old man with a wrinkled
skin and gray hRir looks hidenus with
white teeth It's unnatural and ! think
that even the East river oysters must
know that such a man has false teeth,
and III made false teeth at that. The
way We do now is to notice the complex
ion carefully, and then strike n TINT
that nErees with lit These teeth that YOU
see On the ring are made of porcelain
They are of every shade and variety Of
tint known TO the profession Each one
Is numbered As soon as we find out the
shnde that Is wanted for a customer we
send the number 10 the factory, and the
whole set is mRde Of that tint
That S a considerable advance in the
dentists art hut 1t is small compared
with some otheE things thHt have been
accomplished since the days when tAlse
teeth. plate and all were all carved out
of solid piece Of ivory"
When was that
About a century aga There is sucha
set OF. rather, two such sets, one for the
upper and one for the lower jaw, hat
were made for George Washington, in the
possession Of a New York dentist. They
were carved with almost infinite labor out
of solid ivory. On each side at the back
ware little gold springs that kept pressing
the two sets apart That prevented their
Slipping ont, but made them terribly tire
some TO the unfortunate man who wore
them, and If be ever went TO sleep with
them in his mouth they pried his mouth
open and made him snore. They were
very clumsy teeth we would think, and
only 10 be used on state occasions. New
York Commercial Advertiser.