Smyrna times., 1899-04-19

| AectlOn 10 which Their Max
ing Has Attained-In style. Shane
and Color Nothing Is Impossible tn
Modern Dental Art.
Hundreds of thousands of artificial
teeth are manufactured and sold every
year What becomes of them? 1t is like
asking what becomes of pins and other
things which are practically indestruc-
tible
Before making a guess it is worth
while to consider how artificial teeth
are made. The story is told in Nan
tucket OF sea captain who was a great
whistler until he lost one of his front
teeth by accidental contact with 4 be
laying pin For some time he bemoaned
his lost accomplishment, until he found
that he could whistle very well with an
artificial tooth whitfield out of niece
OF wood. When a performance was de-
sired he would calmly carve ont an in
clsor and put it in position Then the
audience would wait until the tooth
was swelled by the moisture of his
mouth so that it would not slip out
When plates were discovered and the
expert dentist was able to supply
whole mouthful of new teeth, the teeth
themselves were carved out of ivory
But constant grinding would wear away
the ivory and these elephant teeth
We're not satisfactory
Today all artificial teeth are made of
porcelain. and will outlast Metbu
selah Those which are known in the
trade as "stcre teeth, being carried in
stock by the big dental supply houses
are manufactured in enormous quanti
ties
The porcelain material. which con.
talns various mineral proportions. is
worked up like sort of dough or plas
ter forced into molds and fused bv in
tense heat in a furnace Each tooth is
covered with enamel and has one or
more metal pins in the back 30 hold il
to the plate
In large lots these teeth can be made
very cheaply but there is one item Of
expense that cannot be overcome, and
that is the cost of the metal holding the
pin The only metal which will stand |
the intense heat of the porcelain fur |
mace is platinum. and that costs at the
rate OF cent a pin simply for the raw
material A great deal of money has |
been spent in experiments to discover
some substitute for platinum. but moth
ing has yet been found
While a cheap grade Of ''store teeth
can be bought for few cents apiece
they are not nearly as satisfactory as
the standard commercial article which
Is used by most dentists A big simply
company will carry hundreds of samples
OF teeth. all of standard qualities but
greatly in size. shape and col
or In color alone from 25 to 100 varia
tlons may be presented
But as there are people who are not
satisfied with ready made clothing 50
there are people who are not satisfied
with ready made teeth False teeth
may look just as well or better than
real ones, but public speakers. singers
and other prominent people want their
own teeth reproduced in all their pecul-
arities of form and color and filings.
+ they have them They want teeth
hat cannot be told as false. and they
get them. not all at once perhaps. but
'ne by one, as the originals give out
In teeth that are made to order moth
ng is impossible, from the short. white
eeth of normal youth to the long, dis
'olored ones of extreme age, and the
'rices range like those of watches
The teeth are set in plates of rubber
,old and aluminium. but the highest
chlevement is considered to be plat
mum plate, upon which has been fused
Inning OF tinted porcelain similar to
nat used for gum work Tinted plates
ave been made of the same material
g the teeth, but as the porcelain shrinks
the firing the fitting of such plates
8 uncertain
And now for the answer to the ques.
ion what becomes of false teeth?'
they are lost sometimes
tolen and sometimes left as a family
egacy Generally. however they are
'uried with the owner and lie forever l
idden in the ground
1t is occasionally suggested that there
quite business in secondhand false
eeth. but If there is such a traffic if is 3
OF OF large proportions. Secondhand
eeth are valuable only for the platinum .
ire that they contain, and when thev
all into the hands of regular teeth
lakers they are smashed up to get the
latinum out G.
Not long ago man who found a "
ouble set of teeth went with them to
oealer. thinking that he had prize
he finder was surprised when the deal lf
refused to make an offer and said fC
lat 10 cents a set was all they were o.
orth to any one but the person whose
outh they fitted
The expensive teeth are not market. IL
Die, and the marketable teeth are not ii
Ipensive That is the whole thing in p
nutshell
Yet teeth have been used over A -
dy went to dentist with a set of
eth which had belonged to her moth. ct
W hn