Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-02-04
FASHIONS IN TEETH.
THE LATEST INNOVATION m PRO
GRESSIvE DENTISTRY.

Making the Tint Suit the Complexion-A
Dentist Talks to Man with an
Aching Bi-cuspid for Elderly
People.
On steel ring about twice as big as
key ring, which hangs ON the wall in
Twenty-third street dentists office, are
about 10 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
tooth that he thought was likely to jump
out of his head, it ached 50 bad, stared at
the ring and wondered if it held trophies
OF the DOCTORS art, and il the jumping
tooth would soon be added to the collec-
ton. Tine dentist in the meantime vas
holding an animated discussion with a
fair woman patient who sat in the big
chair Of torture. Pretty soon he took the
ring of teeth from the wall. and the man
with the jumping bi-cuspid saw him go
through maneuver that he thought ex
eeedingly strange. He stood in front Of
his patient and, selectinga tooth from the
ring, he would hold it by the side of her
face, and then look at her as though he
were in some impossible way contemplate
ing the effect. Then he would take an
OtiltE anu 40 through Tic sdufc OlttIdLiOu
Finally he made an entry of some kind in
little book, told his patient to come
Tuesday, and hung the ring up on the
wall again.
When the man with the bi-cuspid had
climbed out OF the chair with the fierce
edge OF his toothache dulled little by
big wad Of savory creosote. he asked the
dentist what his curious operation with
the castanet Of teeth might mean.
at was very simple matter" said the
artist OF the forceps and the nerve ex
tractor. Il was trying to find tooth
that would suit her complexion. No, you
needn't laugh. IL isn't a 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 that
somebody whom you have met has a set
OF false teeth, and you know it perfectly
we'll though you can't tell Why There
is something about the appearance of the
teeth, you don't know what it is, that
tells you, and in vaguely unpleasant
sort Of way, that they are false. You see
some otherwise good looking woman
laugh, for instance, and the first glimpse
you get Of her teeth strikes you as disa-
Qreeable, although they may be white,
pearly aud even. Did you ever guess
what was the matter?
The trouble was that the woman's
false teeth, though excellent in every
other way, no doubt, and costing sum
that probably made her husband vince,
were not Of tint to suit her complexion.
know of scores Of women, and no doubt
there are thousands and thousands of
them In New York, who have uncon-
sciously made perfect spectacles of them
selves that way. Now just think how
woman with black hair and an olive COM
plexi0n would look with perfectly white
teeth The effect is the ghastliest thing
You ever saw, when you come to think Of
it, Yet I'll bet there are 10000 black
haired women in New York who are
wearing false teeth rs white as a sepul-
chre. Then what would you think OF a
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 disfigured in
just that way. Think Of the spectacle a
red headed woman makes when she opens
her mouth to laugh and shows the teeth
some blacksmith OF dentist made as yell
low as n South Brooklyn ague victim! 1t
is dreadful to all persons Of cultivated
sensibiities. Dark compleXioned persons
should have teeth of about this shade, ="
showing a yellowish tinted tooth on the
ring. Light complexioned persons should
have lighter tinted teeth. Red headed
persons look best with sort of cleaning
white that is not just dead white, but
is not mt all yellow.
Its the same way about the ages of
people An old man with wrinkled
skin and gray hair looks hideous with
pbitn tooth I'g unnatural and I think
that even the East river oysters must
know that such n man has false teeth,
anu i'll made false teeth at that. The
way we do now is to notice the complex
ion carefully, and then strike tint
that agrees with it. These teeth that you
see III 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 Us we find out the
shade that is wanted for customer we
send the number to the factory, and the
whole set is made Of that tint
THAT'S considerable advance in the
dentists art. but it is small compared
with some other things that have been
accomplished since the days when false
teeth. plate and all, were all carved out
Of a solid piece Of ivory"
"When was thatY'
About Il century ago There is such
set, or, rather, two such sets. one for the
upper and one for the lower jaw. that
We're mnde for George Washington, in the
possession OF New York dentist They
were carved with almost infinite labor out
of solid ivory On each side at the back
were little gold springs that kept pressing
the two sets apart. That prevented their
slipping ont, hut made them terribly tire
some to the unfortunate man who wore
them, and If he ever went to sleep with
them in his mouth they pred his mouth
open and made him shore. They were
very clumsy teeth, we would think, and
only to he used on state occasions New
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